Finding True Love
by LimJJ
Summary: When she had finally won the heart of her life long crush, she thought she had everything she could ever want. However, in the process of winning the heart of the last Uchiha, she pushed away the most influential person in her life. Only when he was gone did she realize what she had done. How wrong was she. Years later, that person returned but a changed man.
1. Prologue Chapter

**Hey guys this is my rewrite for the story and the title will change along with the summary. I feel that my previous story limited my ideas and it was getting harder to write as I progress further so I decided to rewrite. Don't worry the new chapters will be out pretty quickly but no promises but since I will be doing some minor changers here and there it should be fast. I hope you guys like this new version and thank you for all the support. Zumba May I hope you like this introduction.**

 **PS: To those that wants to flame my account I suggest you use a real account instead of being a pussy and named yourselves as guest. Why don't you fking retards get a fking life instead of calling other people names.**

 **PSS: PLEASE REVIEW!**

 **Prologue Chapter: Shattered Heart**

In the village hidden in the leaf a young man lied on the white mattress of Konohagakure hospital. His body covered with bandages, his entire right hand casted due to broken bones from his fight and his left leg broken from a fall but it was all in all it was worth. He finally brought back the last Uchiha from the grasp of darkness, he finally fulfilled his once in a lifetime promise. When he awoke, he saw Tsunade looking over his charts and when Tsunade noticed he was awake she told him that he barely made it out alive if it wasn't for his ANBU squadmates bringing him and Sasuke back. Of course he gave that infamous grin of his and told her that there's nothing to worry about. Normally Tsunade would have hit his head for it but not this time seeing how injured he was so she let it slide. Naruto sigh and looked out the window, it's been a week since he awoke and there's still no sign of his best friend and crush Sakura Haruno. He guessed that she wanted to spend more time with Sasuke to catch up and that thought caused pain to his heart. It was true that Sakura still held feelings for Sasuke but over the years when Sasuke wasn't around, his bond with Sakura strengthen and they've been close ever since. They were the best of friends but sometimes he wished it was more than that. Normally when he gets injured badly, Sakura would be the first person he would see when he's awake and would have the most frequent visits among his friends so seeing that she didn't even visit him atleast once caused sadness to him. As the days go by just about everyone paid him a visit except for Sakura and Sasuke. Even his ANBU squad paid him a short visit in the night. So far Sakura hasn't even visit him and a young nurse was sent to check on him from time to time. He missed Sakura, he missed her company because she was one the people that didn't made him feel so lonely. Sometimes he would ask the nurse where is Sakura and she would reply saying that Sakura was busy and that's all so he just leave it be.

Another week past and he was ready to leave though Tsunade said that he shouldn't go on missions for a few more days till his hand and leg recovers. As he sat on the bedside he sigh, Sakura still hasn't paid him a visit yet so he decides to pay them a visit of his own to his former teammates and see how they are doing. He quickly dressed himself with an orange long sleeved jumpsuit with Anbu pants and walked out. He was still limping quite abit but nothing he couldn't handle and upon reaching his Sasuke's room he opened the door slightly and saw that Sakura was pinned to a wall by Sasuke. Naruto was about to barge in and give Sasuke a beating when Sasuke started talking and judging from the tone it was something serious so Naruto decided to wait.

"Sakura remember what you said to me all those years ago?" She nodded slowly, she was so focused on Sasuke that she didn't even notice the door opened slightly.

"Do you still have feelings for me?"

"I-I'm not sure" she turned away avoiding his gaze.

Sasuke took her chin and gently turn towards him but her eyes wasn't "Sakura look at me" slowly her eyes turned to look at his dark onyx eyes. Slowly Sasuke's face closed on her and claimed her lips. Sakura was shocked at first but then she slowly kissed back. When they broke off Sasuke smiled "So does that make us a couple now?"

"I guess so…"

"Good" once again he kissed her and she kissed back but for some reason something doesn't feel right at all. Sasuke the boy of her dreams is kissing her but it isn't what she expected. She imagined that it would be filled with sparks and fireworks but she felt nothing at all. She cursed at her doubts and pushed them away. " _This is what I've always wanted right?_ "

Naruto slowly closed the door. He heart broke like a shattered glass, he always thought that maybe Sakura really meant what she said back in the land of Iron all those months ago but after witnessing that he felt stupid for believing such false hope. Slowly the young man walked a lonely journey home with his heart in shambles.

 _Back in Sasuke's room_

The couple had already stopped kissing and were not sitting across each other on the same bed while holding hands talking about how are they going to spend their time with each other since they were a couple already. They were talking until Kakashi appeared out of nowhere sitting on the window "Yo"

His sudden presence shocked the young couple. "K-Kakashi-sensei! What are you doing here?"

"What? Can't visit my former students?" He noticed that the two were holding hands _Hmm interesting…_

"No, no, it's just you appeared out of nowhere and we haven't seen you since the mission."

"Sorry I was busy with some reports and mission for the past few weeks. By the way, did you know Naruto is leaving the hospital today?"

"R-Really?" Sakura mentally hit herself. She completely forgotten about Naruto, she was too busy with Sasuke that she didn't even bother to pay him a visit. After all he was the one who brought him back so she should atleast say thank you _God I'm such a horrible friend._ She made a mental note to give him a visit. She came back to reality when Kakashi spoke

"So you guys wanna have a team reunion dinner when Sasuke gets discharged?"

Sasuke shrugged his shoulders giving no expression while Sakura gave a happy smile "Sure! It would be great for team 7 to unite again."

"Then it's settled. Ja ne" with that he disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

 _Back to Naruto_

Naruto slowly opened the door to his apartment he gave a good look of the dark and cold living room and sighed. For the past few years that Sasuke wasn't around, Sakura would always accompany him from the hospital and back to his house. She would either stay for the night or stay until late night. They hadn't done anything intimate but she makes the house look lively and warm far from the cold and dark one he's seeing. He knows it will never happen again but he would cherish the memories he had with Sakura. He noticed some of Sakura's stuff still around so he made a mental note to return it back to her when he leaves again. He slowly walks to his bedroom and let himself fall on it. Tears started falling and he started to sob silently. This would be the first of many more to come because for the first time in a long time Naruto cried himself to sleep.

A few more days have passed and Sasuke was finally discharged. Sakura hasn't seen Naruto at all, she tried going to his house and knocked on the door but nobody answered. She noticed that the house was dark and deserted, as if no one had been home for months. Now she finds herself walking through the busy streets towards the hospital to get Sasuke discharged. On the way she was about to pass Ichiraku's when she saw Naruto coming out and from the looks of it he still hasn't noticed her yet _That's weird. Normally he could sense me from anywhere_. "Naruto!" she called out.

The voice he dreaded and to be honest, Sakura was the last person he wants to see now. He quickly put on a fake smile and greeted her "Oh hey Sakura-chan. Long time no see."

Sakura walked towards him "Yea sorry. I was kinda busy for the past few weeks

"Busy my ass" Naruto mumbled quietly.

"Did you say something?"

"Huh? Oh no, no"

"Baka" she huffed. _Should I tell Naruto that me and Sasuke are a couple now?_ She thought for a moment then decided that she should just tell him. "Oh yea, me and Sasuke just became a couple." She smiled.

If his heart wasn't broken enough, the shattered pieces started to turn into dust. He forced a smile and gave a thumbs up "Congratulations Sakura-chan! That teme finally opened up to you neh."

"Yea" That expression reminded of the same one he showed when she begged him to bring Sasuke back. It looked so forced, like he was in deep pain even though he's smiling. She noticed that his eyes lost the light he once had, now it looked lifeless. "Naruto are you okay? You look sad." She put a hand on his shoulder and he flinched. Naruto slowly took her hand away from his shoulder.

"I'm fine Sakura-chan. Just tired you know."

Not convinced but Sakura decided to let it go "By the way. We are having a reunion dinner for team 7 today. You should come."

"S-Sure Sakura-chan"

"Alright, see you tonight." With that she ran off to the direction of the hospital. Naruto stood there watching at her run towards the hospital with sad eyes.

"You should atleast tell her that you love her you know. Stop being a pussy." A female with long brunette hair landed beside him with four more other people.

"Not now Hana" he growled.

"Dude I agree with Hana. You should atleast tell her."

Naruto clenched his teeth and turned to them with anger and sadness in his eyes "And what good would that do? What's the point that I confessed to her when she just started her relationship with Sasuke." He clenched the fabric of his shirt near his heart "I made a promise to myself that I would do anything to make her happy even if it was the cost of my own happiness. Telling her would only confuse her. It is time for me to step out of her life and let her live a happy one."

"So that's why you're requesting more S-Rank mission to distant yourself from her?

"It's for the best"

"You're being a coward" Hana said.

Naruto didn't say anything but walked away before turning over his shoulder "Meet me at the Hokage monument tonight. We're leaving ahead of schedule." The walked away.

Hana let a frustrated sigh "That selfless bastard. He cares to much for the people around but doesn't care of his own well-being." She looked at Naruto with sad eyes. "That Haruno is lucky to have a man that is so caring of her well-being and happiness. If only she noticed it." With that the four figures disappeared.

 _A few hours later at a BBQ restaurant_

Naruto and Kakashi were waiting for Sakura and Sasuke to join them. So far only a few words were exchanged and Kakashi knew that something was wrong. So he decide to test something "So you heard?"

"Heard what?"

"Sasuke and Sakura" he noticed Naruto tense up when those two names were mentioned. He noticed his jaw tightening and his hand curling into a fist. He inwardly sigh, it wasn't a secret that Naruto held feelings for Sakura. All of Naruto's former classmates knew along with most of the people he knew but incredibly Sakura hasn't taken a hint yet. All he knew is that Sakura still thinks that Naruto just had a childhood crush on her but what she doesn't know is that he has fallen deep for her so it's no surprise that this affected him greatly.

"Yes. She told me today."

"And you're okay with it."

Naruto leaned on the wall with a frustrated sigh "I should be but I'm not. It hurts so much because during my hospital stay, Sakura didn't even pay me a visit once and when I was discharged and about to visit them. I was opening the door and do you know what I saw? Sasuke kissing Sakura and she kissed back. Not only that, she lied to me saying that she was busy so she was unable to visit me when we all know that she was spending time with Sasuke." He fist tightens "After all I've done for her and this is how she says thank you?"

Kakashi was about to say something when he heard the restaurant door opened showing Sakura and Sasuke. He saw that Sakura was latched onto Sasuke's arm and when he turned back to Naruto he saw him turned away from the couple. Kakashi stood up and change sides to sit next to Naruto. Sakura and Sasuke sat opposite side of them "Ohayo Kakashi sensei, Naruto."

"Ohayo" Kakashi waved

Naruto turned up for a brief moment and gave a nod which surprised Sakura and Sasuke because normally Naruto would have given them a loud greeting. Soon Team 7 started eating and talked to one another but Naruto was mostly silent throughout the conversation. Sasuke turned to Naruto and decided to start up a conversation with him "So Dobe how have you been doing."

Naruto forced a smile "Good. I've made a full recovery. How about you"

"Same. Tsunade said that I would be under house arrest for a year, some questioning from the council and Ibiki but I would be fine when I have Sakura with me."

Sakura gave a smile, a smile that she has never shown before "I'll be with you every step of the way"

 _I can't even make that smile._ Naruto thought sadly. Soon the couple started to talk about how they are going to spend time together when Naruto finally had enough. "I'm sorry guys but I'm really tired. Have fun without me." He stood up and was about to walk away when small soft hand grabbed his wrist "Come on Naruto stay for abit longer."

"Yea Dobe, what's the rush?"

"Sorry Sakura-chan I have another mission tomorrow so I need all the rest I can get." He took hold of her hand and gently took it away then gave a her a small smile "Don't worry, we can spend more time when I'm back okay?"

Sakura looked disappointed for a moment then smiled "Okay!"

Naruto walked out the restaurant then stood at an alleyway. His heartache because this may very be the last time they will spend time together again. The days where Sakura would keep him company were gone but he would cherish those memories. He recomposed himself and made a lonely journey through the dark and cold streets of Konoha back home.

It been two months since that reunion night and Naruto has kept himself busy by requesting missions none stop. Most of the higher ranking jounins were left with nothing else to do since Naruto and his ANBU team took most of the high ranked missions. Howeve high ranking missions can take a toll on the human's mind. You get to see things you don't normally see every day. For Naruto he was slowly changing, the nightmares kept him awake on most nights so he resorts to alcohol. One day he came into the Hokage's office and asked for sake much to Tsunade's shock. Now it isn't a common event anymore, he would come at night every so often and drink till there was no more. At first Tsunade didn't know the reason why he resorted to sake but one night he spilled the beans and from that moment she pities the young man. A once bright and cheerful man now slowly turned into a man with depression, a man who wants nothing more than to be loved, a man who has devoted himself for someone only to get nothing in return. To be honest she was disappointed with her former apprentice, she would have thought Sakura would eventually opened up her heart to Naruto and made a complete 180 degree change when the Uchiha wasn't around. She hoped that one day Sakura would realize that she would never find happiness with the Uchiha and return the undying love that Naruto has given her. She prayed it will happen soon because if it doesn't, Naruto is on a path that former head ROOT Danzo wanted. A shinobi who would kill without hesitation and without mercy, a cold hearted human with no emotions left in him. She be damned if she let Naruto walk down that path because it will affect everyone that has come to respect and care for Naruto. She could only hope that when he leaves for a two year S-ranked recon mission in Oto it doesn't get worse.

A lone figure stood on top of the Yondaime's head at night, his blue eyes watched as two figures walked down the busy streets of Konoha and from the looks of it they were enjoying their time. Though the Uchiha was still stoic as usual but what caught him the most was how Sakura seemed to be enjoying his company and a small he never seen before was etched onto her face. His face turned sad because no matter how hard he tried he could never get her to smile like that to him. He bled for her, put himself in harm's way to protect her, he was there was she was down, he was there with her through thick and thin, he still held scars after he protected her from certain death so many times. No matter how much he tried, he could never win her heart. He always thought that she would return his feelings when Sasuke wasn't around since she started to treat him better. They became as close as friends could get and he always hoped he would escape that friendzone island but no. He was just a replacement for her, a distraction to keep her from thinking of the last Uchiha. Suddenly he felt anger and hatred towards her. His feelings used against him, his kindness and his undying love for her taken for granted and worst of all she lied to him when he thought she the person he trusted the most. Is this how she repays his kindness and dedication towards her? Slowly he calmed himself, as much as he wants hate her he just couldn't. However, the once close bond they both had was now broken and could never be fixed again. He would always love her till the day he dies but he would do his best to distant himself from her. He came back from his own thoughts and looked into the house and found that Sakura was already asleep. He decided to pay her once last visit. He disappeared from the mountain and reappeared in her room. Thanks to his specialty in stealth, he remained undetected even to a ninja of her caliber. He walked to her beside and kneel, he brushed away some lose bangs from her face and kneeled there for a moment to take in her peaceful and beautiful face. To this day he still had no idea why she says that her forehead is oversized, he thought it's good to kiss it. He sighed, he never did get a chance to kiss her forehead even though he was close when he transformed into Sasuke. She will never know that her forehead was one of her features he loved most. His face closed in on hers and he gently kissed her forehead, then he stood up without looking back and disappeared into the night never to be seen again for another two years. If he had looked back he would have seen a soft and happy smile on Sakura's face.


	2. Long time no see

**Yes I'm back from my exams and I must say it was very pressuring. I hope you like the slight changes to how I write the story. As for why I did a rewrite well as I said, the last one got too hard for me to continue and I felt like the plot didn't really make sense. So I made a new starting plot with Sakura and Sasuke being just couples but not married couples. I hope you can continue to support me just like how you did to me previous ones though not as angsty as the previous but I think this was one is better. Let me know what you think in the reviews. Back to the story!**

 **Chapter 2: Long time no see**

 ** _Beep! Beep! Beep!_**

 ** _Click*_**

A young woman groans after being woken up by the alarm clock. She sat up and popped a few bones back to its place then let a relaxing sigh. She ran her fingers through her disheveled long pink hair. Rubbing her eyes and waiting for a few moments to let it adjust to the room brightness in the morning. Finally adjusted she took a photo frame on a small drawer by her bed and looked at it. They didn't even get a new team photo after Sasuke's return, she also remembered that they never truly went out as a team again and it was all because of her. It had been two years since she found out that Naruto went out for a two year long recon mission in hostile territory Otogakure and Iwagakure. What's strange was that on the night he left she felt something warm and soft touched her forehead where her diamond seal and to this day she still doesn't know what it was. Maybe she had been dreaming or something. She put the photo down and she had a sad smile when she saw the other one next to team 7's old photo. It was a photo of both Naruto and her standing side by side holding two sets of bells in their hands grinning. Ino had taken it when she was passing by the training grounds and she so happened to be holding a camera at that time. She picked it up and ran a thumb over Naruto's grinning face. How she wished she could go back to those times, she missed his company, his smiling face that could light up anyone's day but most of all she missed him. It was a few days later she started to miss the blonde haired ninja. She tried to forget him and focus on her relationship with Sasuke but she started to doubt her feelings for the Uchiha. No matter how many times she pushed that small voice of doubt in her head it would always come back. Sasuke wasn't a bad person, he did have a soft side she later found out but he's just…Sasuke. He's cold most of the time, emotionless, he rarely replies her with more than a sentence and she always had to start the conversations on their dates. Furthermore, she found out that he's quite possessive and forceful sometimes. His kisses were sometimes forceful and mostly possessive. It wasn't the loving kiss she fantasized she would have with Sasuke, in fact nothing about her relationship with Sasuke was what she imagined. She always fantasized Sasuke and herself kissing lovingly, smiling, laughing, holding hands and all sorts of stuff lovers would do.

When Naruto walked out of her life, everything to her was grey. Naruto was the one who could always brighten up her day and with him gone, everything was just boring. It was later then she realized that Naruto was more than a friend to her. When she compared her time with Sasuke and Naruto she found out that she missed Naruto's company a lot more than her boyfriend at that time. Then one day Sasuke brought her to a quiet and did something that caught her completely off guard.

 _Flashback_

 _She followed Sasuke up the Hokage monument, wondering what was he planning. When they reached the top Sasuke turned to her. To a normal person it may look like an emotionless face but after dating this emo guy for almost a year she could tell which is which. It took a moment to read his expression and it was a serious one so she focused on the guy in front of her instead of the other one….He spoke "Sakura, we've been dating for a while now." She nodded silently._

" _I think it's time we take it up to the next level."_

 _It took her moment to figure out what it meant then her eyes widen 'No it can't be.' Sasuke went of one knee and took out a ring then held out to her "Sakura Haruno will you marry me?"_

 _Her breath caught, her mind went blank, her whole body felt numb and she lost all awareness of her surroundings. It took her a moment to recompose herself before she could finally register what was happening and that was Uchiha Sasuke asking for her hand in marriage. Her twelve year old self would be screaming with joy but she isn't twelve anymore. Moreover, her heart didn't belong to Sasuke anymore. She finds the situation pretty ironic to be honest, right now something straight from her childhood dreams was happening in front of her and she didn't immediately accept nor is she jumping with joy. Her twelve year old self would be berating her endlessly. She looked at the young man in front her, a man she once imagined spending the rest of her life with in sickness and in health till death do them apart. However not until recently she started imagining life with another man, a man who would promise her endless happiness and joy and that man was definitely not the man kneeling in front of her. "I'm sorry Sasuke"_

 _Sasuke looked at her confused "Huh?"_

" _I can't accept this proposal. I just can't"_

 _Sasuke stood up, anger and confusion started to creep on to his face "Why not"_

 _Sakura looked at him and gave a sad smile "It's because I don't love you anymore." She turned away from him and looked towards the village "Maybe I never did."_

" _Then why did you start dating me?"_

" _I don't know." She sigh "Maybe I always thought you were what I always wanted but you weren't. For months I tried to convince myself that this was what I've always wanted, to get recognition from you, for you to finally return my feelings but the doubts kept coming. Eventually I started comparing how different both of you were. It seems that the quiet and cool type isn't my cup of tea anymore. It was only recently did I realized that my heart belonged to another man. The one who gave me so much but never ask for anything in return, the one who went through thick and thin with me, the one who gave me a shoulder to cry on, taking the my burdens away and sacrificing his happiness for the sake of mine. The man is Naruto Uzumaki."_

 _Sasuke slowly gave a small smile then chuckled "So the dobe won the round as well."_

 _Sakura walked forward and put a hand on his shoulder "You're a good man Sasuke but you aren't the one I want." With that she gave a kiss on his cheek and walked away "See you soon Sasuke."_

 _End of flashback_

She was thankful that she still kept a close bond with Sasuke after their break up. Turns out that she loves him more like a big brother than a lover and Sasuke eventually admitted the same as well. Sasuke recently started dating another kunoichi but a year younger than him. They met during an A rank mission and they've been together for almost a year now. From the looks of it they seem to have good chemistry. She was happy for them. She put the photo frame down and began her morning routine.

When she came out of the bathroom she saw a message bird waiting for her by the window frame. She walked towards it and took the message then let the bird fly off. "An –A rank mission?" she rarely gets anything above B rank these days since she spends most of her time in the hospital. Her highest mission rank was B and that was a few weeks ago. Thankfully she hasn't lost her physical fitness yet since she goes to sparring sessions with most of the rookie 11 but even though they were great sparring partners, she missed sparring with Naruto the most. Most of them don't really go full force against her since she's a medical nin and the only who goes full force was Sasuke but being the cold bastard he more on the provoking and harassment side where as Naruto would always encourage her to keep going and it was because of him she became the most respected Kunoichi in Konoha next to the Godaime Hokage. It's a title she's proud of. She sigh, she never did thank Naruto for all he did. To this day she blamed herself for Naruto's departure. He was slowly drifting away from her and she didn't bother to do anything about it. She noticed that he was slowly putting distance between him and herself, she was worried at first but brushed it off thinking that he's just busy or giving time alone and Sasuke and her. How stupid and blind she was to not even know the pain he was going through. She was aware Naruto held feelings for her but she forgotten everything when she started dating Sasuke. What kind of best friend was she?

She sighed, no point dwelling on the past. You can't change the past but you can make a better future and make up for your mistakes. She went to her closet, undressed her night gown and started dressing her ninja clothes. Her attire hasn't changed much ever since Naruto left other than growing her hair out since Ino said she looks better with long hair. Said she looks more feminine compared to her short hair since it made her look abit tomboyish . She also figured that keeping her old attire showed her curves more. Her red shirt was slightly smaller and showed her stomach and other than that everything is pretty much the same, except her new boots which Tsunade gave her as a birthday present last year. She finally dressed, tied her hairband and head out to the Hokage tower. Walking down the street, she noticed that she attracted a good amount of looks mainly from the male population. At first she enjoyed the attention since it proves that she finally filled out her assets mainly her butt but it started to creep her out later since she heard a few gossips of what perverts would want to do to her body. As long as they don't touch her or anything that involves physical she's fine with the looks but it doesn't mean it never tends to scare her. Deciding she gained enough looks, she head for the roofs and started jumping over them towards the Hokage tower. Upon reaching she found out that she was the latest, she apologized and stood at the back for Tsunade to start her mission briefing. Looking around she found Sasuke, Ino, Kakashi, Sai were her teammates for this mission. Tsunade stood up "I'm glad you all could come. As you know this is an –A rank mission so becareful, especially you Sakura." Sakura nodded in understanding "We got a letter from a village near the border of the Fire country saying that they've been experiencing an unknown epidemic so that's why I'm bringing Ino along with you Sakura since both of you are the best we have. We already have an ANBU squad stationed there to protect the village from incoming threats. Any questions?"

Sai raised his hand "Why send an ANBU to guard a village when we could just send a squad of chunin?"

"Well the ANBU squad was just returning from a long term mission and they were close by to the village. They were the ones who sent the letter to us. Anymore?" no one answered

"Good. You leave in two hours"

With that the team left to prepare their gear for the mission. Two hours later the team already readied at the gate now await for Kakashi to find his way through the path of life. Who knows, maybe a litter of black kittens and a mother cat decided to cross his path. When he finally reach, he was about to give his usual excuse when the team already left for the trees without him. Shrugging he went for the trees and caught up with them, he quickly went to the front of the team since he was the team leader. He noticed that everyone was quiet no one said anything since there was nothing else to be said. It was a calming type of silent. That is until Sai decided to start talking "So ugly how you've been?" said Sai with a fake smile.

Sakura turned to him with the most innocent smile "Care to repeat that name again?"

Before Sai could speak Ino already covered his mouth "Now, now Sakura I'm sure he didn't mean it." She started rubbing his head with her fist so fast that you could've smell smoke emitting from his head if you were near him "Right Sai?" she gave her own sweet smile but he knew better that if he said that word one more time, he would be facing two enraged kunoichi. So he just nodded. Why do people feel insulted when all he's telling is the truth? He thought for a moment then took a book from his pouch, there the title wrote 'Understanding Human Feelings'. He read the book for a while till he noticed his male raven haired teammate was silent. He decided to start a conversation "So duck-"

"Finish that sentence and I will make sure the title of dickless goes to you"

Well that certainly shut him up. Since no one was in the mood to talk he just continued reading his book in silence. They traveled for another two hours with no further conflicts and arguments till Kakashi sighted the town's gate. He signaled them to slow their pace, the landed in front of the gate and noticed that there weren't any guards coming to greet them so went on full alert just in case if there's an ambush. They walked through the dirt road leading into the town they noticed that there weren't many people walking around. Suddenly out of nowhere a female ANBU with long chestnut hair stopped in front of them. The team went on guard for a moment then noticed the tattoo on her shoulder, it's a tattoo all Konoha ANBU nins. Every village has their own tattoo patterns and Konoha's one has a swirl like pattern to it. The ANBU agent spoke "So I'm guessing you're the team Tsunade sent you?"

"Hai" Kakashi said.

"We can skip the introductions first. Now I need you to follow me to the town hall to speak with the mayor regarding the epidemic."

The team nodded and followed the ANBU jumping on of the roofs. Upon reaching they found a male ANBU waiting for their arrival. He had similar raven hair like Sasuke but only shorter, on his back were two ninjato and you could already tell he's an experienced dual wielding swordsman.

"The mayor is waiting for you. Follow me."  
The team nodded and followed the ANBU agent to the mayor. Walking in the town hall, the interior design of the building was pretty classy with several colorful vases, some flowers, an inside water fountain in the middle of the entire building. This town mayor had to be pretty rich to build this kind of building. They also just noticed that there weren't many employees walking around them. "Most of the town residents got sick including the staff members of the town hall if that's what you're wondering."

They nodded in understanding but Sakura had a questioning face ' _what could cause the entire town to fall sick?_ ' They continued walking till they came upon a flight of stairs. They walked up to the second level and continue walking down the hall way to the mayor's office. There were several rooms for the senior staff down the hallway but most of them were closed signaling they weren't around. They finally reached the mayor's office and the ANBU agent knocked a few times before hearing a male voice telling them to come in. They went in and they were greeted by a middle age man probably in his fifties. They were slightly shocked because even though he looked pretty old he still had a pretty fit figure but the most noticeable thing was how shiny his bald head was. It was so shiny that the sun shining through the window reflected to Sasuke's eye causing him to cover his eyes. The man stood up and greeted them "Ah so you're the team that Hokage-sama sent you."

The team bowed back with respect, Kakashi stepped forward and shook the mayor's hand "Hai" answering the mayor.

"Ah if it isn't Kakashi Hatake the copy-cat nin"

"Hai that's me erm…"

"Call me Saitama"

"Saitama-sama"

The man gave a genuine smile "Please Kakashi, there's no need for such formalities. Saitama is enough."

Kakashi nodded "Hai"

The elder man smiled and looked over Kakashi's shoulder "So do you mind introducing your team? They look pretty promising to me."

"Hai" Kakashi stepped aside "The blonde haired Kunoichi is Ino Yamanaka from the Yamanaka clan. She specializes in interrogation and is also an experience medical combat nin."

"A Yamanaka clan…is your father Inoichi Yamanaka?"

Ino nodded "Yes but how did you know?"

"I met your father when I was on a business trip to Konoha."

"I see"

Kakashi then continued the introductions "The pale skin man is Sai, he has no clan but was a former ANBU agent."

The elder man nodded and smiled at the young man.

"The raven haired man is Sasuke Uchiha from the renowned Uchiha clan."

The elder man tensed up, he has heard of the misdeeds the Uchiha did in the past and the cold glare he was giving wasn't very comforting. Kakashi of course noticed this and put a hand on Sasuke's head and start rubbing his head "Don't worry Saitama-san, he's okay now. He is actually a pretty nice guy when you get to know him aside from his cold demeanor. Isn't that right Sasuke?"

Sasuke swatted Kakashi's hand away clearly not appreciating being treated like a genin again crossed his arms over his chest and looked away "Hn"

Kakashi sweat dropped while Saitama gave an awkward smile. He signaled Kakashi to continue to the final member "Lastly we have Sakura Haruno from the Haruno clan. She's renown and highly respected medic combat nin and looked up upon as an idol amongst other kunoichi in the village. She was trained by the Godaime Hokage Lady Tsunade and she will be the leading the investigation and medical research for your epidemic problem."

The elder man face beamed with happiness "Oh I've heard of you. You were the one who worked with Lady Chiyo in defeating one of the Akatsuki members right?"

Sakura blushed with embarrassment "Well I don't want to boast but I guess you could say that." She scratched the back of her head and giving a shy smile.

"Then my town is saved. Having two experience medic nins and one of them being the apprentice of Lady Tsunade nonetheless."

Sakura gave a small but shy smile "I'm flattered"

Then the elder man turned serious "I think it's time we get down to business"

The whole team tensed up and nodded. They all moved to a table and sat around it "So what seems to be the problem mayor"

The mayor let out a sigh "Well the epidemic started about a week ago when people started falling sick."

"What are the symptoms?"

"Well they consist of coughing, flu, headache and mostly stomach ache. I know it may sound like your average illness but our town doctor tried to cure them but his medicines had no effect and now even he has fallen victim to the illness."

Sakura put a finger on her chin and started thinking "What is your main source of food?"

"Cows and pigs but we also have a paddy field not too far from here."

"I see. Well maybe that's where the source of the problem is. I think it's best we should start our investigation there don't you think Kakashi-sensei?"

"I don't know" he shrugged " but since you're the medic here I'll just follow you"

Just before they could continue discussing further, a staff member came crashing in "Saitama-sama!"

Saitama stood up "What is it?"

"B-bandits! They are closing in from the main gate"

Just before Saitama could answer Kakashi's team already stood up "We'll deal with them"

"W-wait, I already got-" before he could finish Kakashi and his team already left "ANBU agents" he sigh. Oh well, they ANBU's did say that their leader was an ex-teammate of the team that just left.

A large group of bandits which consist of several missing nins were heading to the town and they were closing in fast. The leader of the group was eager to set foot into the village ' _when I'm done with this I'm gonna have some fun with that cute secretary_ ' he licked his lips. Their advance came to a complete standstill when a flash of pink hair came in front of them and punched the ground hard causing them to fly back. The leader being a skilled nin managed to land safely but others weren't so lucky. They large group looked at their enemy only to find a small group of nins, they laughed out loud "This is what they sent?"

"What can 5 people do against us? Hahahah"

With a flick of a finger from the leader they all kept quiet. "I apologize for their behavior. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Shinjiru, formerly an ANBU from the village hidden in the mist. You must be the team Konoha sent am I right."

Kakashi stood in front "Well since you're so kind to introduce yourself so why not I return the favor. Kakashi Hatake, a.k.a The copy nin and this is my team."

"Ah Kakashi Hatake, it is such an honor to meet you. Now why don't you introduce your little team, especially the blonde and the pink haired cutie" he said licking his lips.

Sakura and Ino glared at the man clearly wanting a piece of him. Shinjuru gave a sick smile "No? Well don't worry, when I'm done with this battle you can all the time you want to introduce yourselves to me and my men later. Sounds good?"

The group of men cheered. Sakura and Ino heard whispers of what sick things the men were going to do them if they were to be captured. They shivered with disgust, they would rather die than giving these men the pleasure of raping them. Suddenly Shinjuru ordered them to attack and Kakashi's team went into battle stance. Shinjuru took on Kakashi while the others deal with the rest of his team. Sasuke quickly activate his sharingan and unsheathed his Kusanagi while Sai drew multiple Lions. Sakura and Ino being the team's medic stayed back for support. Kakashi activated his own sharingan and took out a kunai to block Shinjuru's ninjato. As their weapons grinned against each other, they looked at each other eye to eye. Shinjuru gave a sick smile "I'm pretty sure that pink haired girl would make a fine sex slave for me and the blonde can be my men's play toy. Great idea don't you think?" he gave a sick smile.

Kakashi growled "You stay away from them."

They jumped back, Kakashi did a few handsigns "Koton Gokakyu No Jutsu!" he sent a large fireball to Shinjuru who did his own handsigns

"Doton Doryuheki!" a mud wall came up and blocked the fire jutsu.

Kakashi was impressed because that was a B-rank jutsu which meant that Shinjuru is not to be taken lightly. Kakashi took his kunai and charged forward and started a barrage of attacks at Shinjuru. He almost dodged everything but Kakashi got managed to get a kick to his stomach and sent him flying backwards. Having gained some breathing space he turned to his team to check on how they are doing, he saw that they were doing well but they were slowly surrounded by the sheer amount of enemy. He did a few handsigns and turned towards the large zerg of enemies "Futon Daitoppa!" a powerful blast of wind blew away a large portion of the enemy surrounding his team. Sasuke gave a nod of appreciation for his help. When Kakashi turned back, Shinjuru was already gone. He turned back to Shinjuru who already got him "Lucky shot" with that he charged forward with and started his own series of attack on Kakashi. Though Shinjuru attacked with tenacity, Kakashi having the Sharingan was able to keep up. The two were evenly matched, their speed so fast that to a normal eye it would be impossible to keep up. Some of the men watched in awe for a while then continue their assault.

Sasuke smirked as he managed to take two more enemies, everything was going well so far and it would just a matter of time before they beat everyone. That is unless he jinxed himself

"Drop your weapons!"

Everyone turned behind to see Sakura with a blade poised at her throat by and another guy standing beside her. They noticed that Sakura had her hands held behind her back Ino seeing this jumped back to the safety of the two men. Sakura on the other hand was not happy, ' _how could I let these two sneak up on me like that? '_ Sakura tried to break free from the man's hold with her superhuman strength but she the hold wouldn't budge ' _This guy is adding chakra to his fingers to hold me!_ ' The battle stopped and everyone was silent. Kakashi and his team were tense and were already trying to form up a plan to rescue Sakura. Shinjuru smiled at Kakashi "Well looks like I'll be getting my prize earlier than expected." He gave a wicked smile.

Kakashi growled at him trying to think of a plan when he noticed the man beside Sakura started to get too 'close' for comfort. The man beside Sakura was too close for her comfort, he started to caress her face but Sakura turned away and glared at him "Fiesty one aren't you?" he traced a finger over her slightly expose stomach then stopped and stepped back abit "Such erotic clothes you wear my little blossom. Now why don't you show us your assets" with that he walked forward and started to lift the hem of her shirt.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

A random voice spoke. All eyes looked to the source of that voice to find a man under the tree shade standing on branch looking over them. "Who the fuck are you faggot?"

Suddenly the man threw a kunai and went right past the man's face "Haha you-"

Before the man could finish, a thundering sound could be heard and the man on the branch suddenly disappeared on to reappear beside behind him in a yellow flash. In broad daylight, everyone could see he was dressed in ANBU attire. The ANBU grabbed the man's face from the back and slammed it down to the ground hard then in one swift move he was already behind the man who was holding Sakura hostage and did the same to him just as he had done to the man previously. Sakura already free rubbed her wrist to check for any signs of bruise but found none. She looked to the ANBU beside her, he had sun kissed blonde hair that seemed to defy gravity and ' _Could it be?_ ' there on the side of his face where the mask didn't cover were whiskered marks. "N-Naruto?" tears starting to form

The man turned to her, she could see his cerulean eyes. It has to be him. "Long time no see Sakura"

 **I'm done! Finally! As for this chapter, I made Sakura slightly weaker but don't worry she will be badass in the later chapters. As for Naruto, well hes already a badass. The next chapter will be longer since I will update the highschool fanfic. So yea…**

 **REVIEW PLEASE!**


	3. Taste of her own medicine

**Chapter 3: A taste of her own medicine**

 **Now I know my update is overdue. I said that I would update a lot more since it's the end year but some random events came up. I didn't even know I had two vacation trips and while I tried telling my parents that I bring the laptop to write they wouldn't let me so I was gone without writing anything for nearly a week. Before the vacations I had random training schedules for a big game and it was really tiring and no I didn't win. In fact I fucked up real bad and got a bronze when I could have gotten a gold medal. FML ;_;.**

 **Also I know that my story lacks emotional details that other stories seem to have but you must know that I am still a new writer. I don't have a lot of experience in writing this kinds of stuff but I am learning. I always do my best to give out these kinds of stories and yes there are mistakes but I try to fix them. If you guys found anything wrong or plot holes please PM me as I will surely reply and answer you. You can ask Vatsalpulma or crazyprankster.**

 **Now before I let y'all read the story, I wanna ask who played Final Fantasy XV? Because that game is soo good! Like srsly there's the flying thundergod technique in it. The game also has its own drama and romance story. Luna x Noctis, such a cute couple x). I will talk more in at the bottom. Bye!**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters. They all belong to Masihi Kishimoto and Studio Pierrot. Tragic

The large group of bandits looked at the new arrival with shock expressions. The ANBU agent in front of them just took out two bandits holding and freed a hostage in a blink of an eye. Then suddenly four more ANBU agents appeared from thin air, they stood around the ANBU with striking blonde hair. The bandits still felt confident as they outnumbered the ninjas ten to one but taking another look at the ANBU agents in front of them then only they realized that they are in deep shit "Oh shit…" one of the bandits said

"It's them…" another one said

"Yea…" one of the bandits started shiver with fear "Konoha's Night Hunters and their leader…"

"The Demon Assassin"

"Ah so I'm famous even amongst you guys ne?" Naruto took a step forward and the bandits took a step back. Kakashi's team looked on in awe, here an army of bandit are getting pushed back because of one single man. Naruto took another step forward and the bandits this time took two steps back. He shoved his hands in his pocket and looked at them, his red slit eyes can be seen through his ANBU fox mask "Now I'm giving you a chance to live. Run now and never bother this town again because if you do…well that's for you to find out. Care to take the risk?"

The bandits couldn't take it anymore, they just dumped all their weapons and ran away as fast as they could. Naruto did a handsign and to Kakashi's team surprise, the nine tail fox, Kurama poof into existence. "What do you need kit? I was having a nice nap." He growled.

"Look in front."

Kurama looked in front and grinned evilly "No killing." Naruto said calmly. Kurama growled with disagreement "But you can play with them all you want. Go exercise abit you obese fox." And with that Kurama disappeared in a red flash. Naruto looked around and saw that Shinjuru was still here, raising an eyebrow Naruto decided to leave that man's fate in the hands of team Kakashi. Shinjuru was a man with pride and seeing how Naruto paid no interest to him ticked him off. Suddenly he disappeared from Kakashi's point of view, cursing for his lack of alertness Kakashi looked around to find any sign of the rogue nin. Out of nowhere Shinjuru appeared behind Naruto with his blade poised to cut Naruto's head off "You think just because you're the demon assassin that I'm not afraid of you? Ha! Think again"

"Shit!" Kakashi cursed adding chakra to his feet to try to stop Shinjuru

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted. Everything seemed to be in slow motion for Sakura and she noticed that Naruto's ANBU teammates didn't even seemed to be worried or scared of the danger that Naruto is in. As a matter of fact, they looked calm. She turned back to Naruto only to widen her eyes. In a quick moment, Naruto backhand parried Shinjuru's blade with his own without even looking then flashed behind Shinjuru and kicked him on the back causing to stagger forward. He turned around to meet the cold blue sapphire orbs of Naruto's eyes. Shinjuru stood up again and tried to do handsign but Naruto threw a kunai at him but Shinjuru dodge it with ease, Shinjuru smirked and was about to insult how bad Naruto was at throwing until he caught a glimpse of the kunai and his eyes widen. Naruto disappeared in a flash and appeared next to Shinjuru while the kunai was still in mid-air. Shinjuru tried to turn around but it was already too late as Naruto stabbed him in the back. Naruto pulled the blade out of the Shinjuru's back, flicked away the blood and put it back into its holster. Shinjuru was wide open as he slowly fell to the ground in his own pool of blood "I-Impossible…" was the last word he spoke before his passing. Naruto turn around and walked passed a shocked and terrified Sakura.

"If you need me you can find me in my hotel room" with that Naruto disappeared.

When he disappeared, Sasuke turned to Sakura who was still staring at Shinjuru's dead body. He walked towards her and put a hand on her shoulder startling her "Hey" she turned to him "You okay?"

Sakura nodded and gave a small smile "Yea…I'm fine"

"If you say so" with that he walked away.

Kakashi called everyone to gather up on him and head back to the town with the rest of Naruto's ANBU team. On the way back to the town everyone was quiet except for Asuna and Kirito. From what can be heard it seems that Asuna is scolding Kirito about something so Sakura focused on their conversation from afar.

"What do you mean you were busy?" Asuna scolded.

"I was busy with some important stuff Asuna."

"I'm pretty sure _important stuff_ meant finding swords eh?"

When Kirito didn't reply Asuna frowned " Kirito what did I tell you about looking for swords when you have a responsibility?"

"B-but Asuna, there were two titanium made swords!" another glare from Asuna caused Kirito to shut up. He felt alittle sad knowing that he most likely wouldn't get another chance to see those two swords again. Asuna of course noticed this and jumped closer to him and gave a kiss on the cheek while giving a smile. This earned a confused look from Kirito.

"Don't worry. We will go see them when we leave town and maybe even buying them. I'm sure it wouldn't put a dent in our savings. Sounds good?"

Kirito's eyes brighten with joy and nodded happily. Sakura of course was curious of their relationship but decided not to dwell into other people's personal life but her curiosity got the better of her "So are you guys a couple?" Kirito and Asuna looked at her with surprised faces "Erm… just curious"

Asuna smiled back at her which caused Sakura to return a questioning look "We are couple but married couples"

"When did were you two bonded?"

"About a year before the recon mission but we were already a couple long before that"

"I see…" another questioned popped up "Wasn't it hard trying to get married while being an ANBU agent? I'm sure there were certain conditions that had to be met right?"

"Well actually ANBU agents getting married is sort of a taboo thing in the organization since the lifespan of an ANBU is pretty low and when we ask the high commander that we wanted to get married he objected at first but Naruto helped us out since he was the commander's most trusted agent so he eventually gave in and allowed us to get married."

"So how was the wedding?"

"We didn't have one" Kirito said

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Unlike normal ninjas who can get married publicly we ANBU agents have to do the exact opposite of that. Meaning that no one can know that we are married or having a relationship because it might give an unnecessary advantage to the enemy. So instead of a wedding ceremony we were married through paper signing. However I cannot undertake Kirito's clan name until I retire from the ANBU"

"So you guys are married but didn't even get a wedding ceremony?"

"Pretty much" Asuna smiled "It's okay though because as long as we are together I'm okay with it wedding or not"

Kirito gave Asuna a genuine smile and Sakura was about to continue on when Kakashi voiced out that they were reaching the town. They reached the gates and the town's mayor was already waiting "Thank the heavens you all returned safely. Are the bandits taken cared of?"

"Yes and they won't bother you again" Yasuo replied

Saitama let out a sigh in relief "Thank you so much because if it wasn't for you I might've have been fighting them instead with my bare first" he laughed but when no one followed suit he stopped. Then he saw Sakura "Ah Sakura-san I've been waiting for your return. My medics and doctors are eager and excited to meet you. You can head to the town's hospital research lab and start you cure for this strange epidemic. I hope my medics and doctors meet your expectations Sakura-san"

Sakura gave a smile "I'm sure they will. I'll head there as soon as I'm done here"

Saitama nodded "If you need me you know where to find me" and with that he walked away

Kakashi team and Naruto's team gathered up to discuss what they were gonna do. After a few minutes everyone went to their intended destination. Yasuo and Sasuke were going to meditate, Hana and Sakura were going to help out with the cure for the village while Asuna and Kirito went and look for the dual swords that Kirito was drooling over previously and Kakashi head to the hotel to meet up with Naruto for old time sake. Meanwhile Hana and Sakura were en route to the town's hospital and up till now Hana hasn't even spoke a word to Sakura and it questioned her. She was hoping that Hana start up a conversation and from there on they could go to introductions but as far as she was concerned Hana wasn't gonna start talking unless she does so. She read of Hana's profile before, Hana was the medic for Naruto's team. She has a solid three year experience as a medic nin in another ANBU team before transferring to Naruto's team after being handpicked by Naruto himself. So far from what Sakura could find was that Hana had a pretty similar fighting styles as Sakura but instead of using chakra enhanced punches like her, Hana uses a ninjato with enhanced chakra to make the blade stronger. Morever, Hana has more combat experience than her since she's an ANBU agent and has a lot more experience in treating patients under intense pressure with panic and chaos surrounding her. Now seeing Hana in person after Sakura felt that she has so much more to learn as a ninja and also as a medic nin. Deciding to break the torturing and awkward silence she started up a conversation with Hana "So how did the mission go?"

"Good" Hana replied

"Was it tough?"

"Yes"

Sakura was getting annoyed with the short answers she was getting from this ANBU agent but she could express it out loud since Hana is actually Naruto's teammate and showing her anger would only give a bad impression of her so she pushed her anger down. Then another question popped in her head, she always wondered how's Naruto like when he's on ANBU missions seeing as he always seemed to have a bright and sunny demeanor around her when he isn't on duty but the last time she saw him was two years ago. Curious she asked Hana once again "So how's Naruto always like in the ANBU?"

Her question earned a confused look from Hana as if Sakura just asked the most stupid question in the world. Of course ANBU agents were supposed to be serious when on duty or else they wouldn't be called ANBU. Sakura tried to recover "I-I mean…well because when Naruto was always cheerful around me when he isn't on duty. I'm just curious"

Hana stopped and turn her head to Sakura for and stare at her, this caused Sakura to feel nervous. She felt like a student back in the academy that just gave the wrong answer and the teacher was staring at her for giving an improper answer. Then Hana turned away "Why do you care? I mean you didn't even care when he told you he was finally promoted to become an ANBU captain so why now" Hana said.

Sakura couldn't answer that question because she didn't even have one. It was true that Sakura didn't even pay attention to Naruto's happy expression to her when she was told that he would be promoted to captain rank. She could remember that day clearly and how she just brushed him away saying that she had a date to attend and he was in her way. Hana didn't even wait for Sakura instead she just continued her walk towards the town's hospital. Upon reaching the hospital they told the head medic of the hospital that they were sent by the mayor which in return the head medic bowed profusely claiming that it was an honor to have two very experience medics here and since Sakura was a world renowned medic most of the doctors and nurse came and greet her. After a few minutes of greeting, Sakura and Hana pushed through the crowd and head to the hospital's research lab. When they entered they were greeted once again by the medics and doctors who were tasked to work under them. After that Sakura took an overall look of them and saw that they looked experience enough and after a few rules and introductions they started on their research for their cure. Sakura having more experience in the lab stayed back while Hana took some volunteers out to find the source of the sickness. After a few hours Hana and her team returned and handed Sakura's team a few samples gathered from potential spots that could have caused such an outbreak throughout the town. Sakura found out that she and Hana worked quite well together but she was further surprised by Hana's wide range of knowledge in the medical field. She knew that as an ANBU team's medic she was supposed to be knowledgeable but she didn't expect that Hana knew so much more. Sakura had clearly underestimated her and now she has a new found respect for the ANBU agent.

After a few more hours of working they decided to call it a day and head to the hotel for a meeting. The walk to the hotel was silent and this time Sakura didn't even try to start up another conversation instead she was lost in her own world. Sakura couldn't help but wonder how life would had been if she returned Naruto's feelings instead of going to Sasuke. Though she told herself countless times that the past is the past she just had to imagine it. Her life wouldn't be as messed up as it is now, a life where she could have lived without guilt, a life filled with happiness and a life where she would be loved. Kinda like those love novels she reads on her past time. Going for Sasuke would certainly become the biggest and stupidest she had ever made in her life and if she were to have children one day she would tell them to never fall for a boy with looks only. That is if she finds a man she could get married and unfortunately for her the one man she wants to spend with the rest of her life is probably out of reach and maybe forever be. What could she say? She brought this upon herself and if god decides to punish her by keeping her a single woman till she dies then she would accept the punishment but before she dies she would atleast ask forgiveness from Naruto for her past actions. It didn't even matter if she had to beg on her knees and bow to him just for his forgiveness. She would gladly throw her pride away just for Naruto's forgiveness because if he didn't forgive her she might not be sure if she could rest in peace in the afterlife. She was broke from her chain of thoughts when Hana spoke "To answer your question earlier on. He was always serious during missions but he keeps spirit of the team up with some jokes but for the last two years he's changed so much. He rarely smiles anymore. That's all I can say"

Sakura didn't reply but just keep silent but Hana knew she heard her. They walked for a few more minutes till they reached the hotel. They were about to close the lift door when they saw Kirito and Asuna telling them to wait. When they finally went in, Sakura saw that Kirito was holding two very big swords while Asuna had a sword of her own except they were raped in a transparent plastic. She noticed that the swords that Kirito was holding were too big and broad for stealth missions and Asuna's one look abit too thin since it looks like it could snap with a swing of a normal enhanced chakra katana or ninjato but she didn't questioned them since she wasn't an expert with weapons. When the lift finally reach the floor that Naruto was in they walked out and it didn't take long to find Naruto's room since it was just at the end of the hallway. They knocked on the door and when it opened Sakura nearly died from blood lost because standing at the doorway was a half naked Naruto with wet hair, a towel on draped over his shoulders wearing a grey short pants that reach his knee. She knew Naruto was fit but damn she didn't expect him to godly fit. Naruto made way for them to enter without a word and walked to his bed which was being occupied by Kakashi at the moment who is reading his orange book again. Sakura was about to go and teach him a lesson for reading the book openly when Naruto pulled out the same book from his bag. He was so going to get it. She stormed towards him and stood over him, Kakashi noticed her and kept his book knowing her wrath but Naruto kept on reading to her surprise he didn't even acknowledge her presence because normally by now Naruto would be on his knees begging for mercy. She was slightly annoyed and angered that he didn't even bat an eye to her "Naruto" she spoke in a menacing tone that made Kirito sweat nervously since he had heard of the pink haird kunoichi's wrath before.

Naruto look up for a moment with a bored expression "What?"

"How could you read that perverted book." She cracked her knuckles "I suggest you take it unless you wanna get punch"

Naruto raised an eyebrow " Why? You're not my mother nor my superior so I have no reason to follow your orders."

Sakura was getting pissed with his attitude and took it upon herself to take the book from Naruto hands so she grabbed the book and threw it across the room but Naruto teleported across the room and caught it. He leaned against the wall and started reading again. "Why would you read that erotic book that's filled with nothing but perverted shit?"

Naruto stopped reading and look at her "How do you know?"

Sakura was taken aback by his question "B-because"

Naruto walked and stood in front of her face with a bored expression but it also held some annoyance which Sakura noticed "You insult the book by looking at its cover only. If you look into the book for once you would know that there's more to that. Judging something or someone by its cover will get you nowhere in life, it will only cause people to hate you and stop being a bossy annoying bitch. You have no right to tell people what to do. Get that in your thick head" she saw him turned away but not before hearing him whisper "Annoying…"

Her eyes widen when she heard those words. So far the only person who called her annoying was Sasuke and that was in the past but hearing it from Naruto was just painful. She knew that she was annoying in the past but clearly her attitude had improved ever since right? She became lost in her own thoughts when Naruto spoke again saying that he would be going out for some fresh air while inviting Kakashi to come along with him which he accepted. It wasn't long when the two men left that Sakura also decided to get some fresh air, she needed time to think. Back on the streets where two men were walking side by side, Kakashi was still thinking back to the way Naruto talked to Sakura. He had never heard Naruto use that tone to anyone before especially Sakura and even though she deserved it for being bossy he felt that Naruto could have been nicer "Don't you think you were alittle to harsh on her?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders with an emotionless face "Beats me. I think she deserves a little taste of her own medicine."

Kakashi spoke nothing but kept walking instead.

 **I am still trying to think of a suitable chapter name and I feel that this story feels weird. Maybe its just me but if you guys feel that theres anything wrong please PM me or leave a review and I will change it. Now for something out of Naruto, I will be making a short Final Fantasy XV one shot so I hope you guys are fans of the game and if you're not but has a PS4 then I suggest you get the game. If you can't, then go watch the walkthroughs.**

 **Back to Naruto. I will am thinking of deleted my other story. The highschool one. If any of you wants to adopt it just PM me. I will try to update the next chapter as soon as possible but you can take this as my New Year's present to y'all. Hope you like it ^-^.**


	4. Being a team again

**Yes I'm back! Where have I been? Well two weeks ago I was busy for a tournament then I sorta went into a depression like state for a week so I had to stop writing for awhile and relax abit. Also I broke my hand again during the tournament so I was out of action. Don't worry it isn't serious, just a minor fracture. Anyway, I took another week off from writing due to Chinese New Year. My god my relatives were talking about how am I gonna get a girlfriend or how I shouldn't find a girlfriend that's bitchy and all. Some even asked me to get a girlfriend quickly. It was so embarrassing!**

 **By the way here are some review reply**

 **Michael: Sorry man that story is under a major rework and I won't start it till I'm done with this story :(**

 **Zumba May: Yes there will be more of the in the later chapters**

 **Guest: Look I don't give a shit about your shitty opinions of FFXV alright? You think you can do better? Make your own game you faggot.**

 **Aysiahime: Thank you! Yes the ending got me into a state of depression for two week**

 **Victory Peace: Here you go! :D**

 **Lakeya: Yes Naruto is OOC in this story :/**

 **Chapter 4: Becoming a team again**

"So how's ANBU treating you so far?"

Kakashi asked as he sipped a cup of sake. Naruto decided that they head for a local bar where they could just talk and catch up. Kakashi was also a former ANBU agent after all so it made it easier for the both of them to talk by sharing their experiences. He looked up to Kakashi from an ANBU's perspective. As an ANBU captain he had rights to search through all the inactive and active ANBU agent profiles and one day he happened to come across Kakashi's one. Knowing Kakashi's former career as an ANBU Naruto looked into it and was slightly shocked to see the amount of high rank missions completed by Kakashi at a young age. From that day on he had a new found respect for the copy cat nin.

"Pretty good so far" replied Naruto.

"How was your stay in Oto and Iwa?" Kakashi asked smirking. He had been in those places before and it was a nightmare. In Iwa it was so rocky that even for an experienced ANBU like him would find it hard to scale the mountains. Oto's weather was pretty much unstable. It could be hot for one month then freezing the next month. Oto and Iwa lands was not for the faint of hearts.

Naruto sighed "Well Iwa's land are mostly rocks and mountains while Oto is more on forest. They have amassed a large force of nins already and their ANBU force have increased in terms of size but if you're talking about their skill then they are as good as your average jounin. The non ANBU's are pretty much lower to average chunin level"

"Hmm…then at this rate I might be called back into the force"

"Don't know. It will be the commander's and Hokage's decision but before I left I heard rumors that they might be bringing back some ex-ANBU agents to lead more recon and assassination missions."

"Well we'll just see what happens when we get back then"

Naruto nodded and ordered another bottle of sake. They were the only ones in the bar seeing as most of the town residents are bedridden sick. The bar owner was fortunate enough not to fall sick to the epidemic seeing as he just returned from a vacation to Mizu no kuni and he was shocked to find that the entire town was sick. He planned to close his bar earlier than usual seeing as there were no customers until he saw the two ninjas. After ordering another bottle, the two continued to drink in silence until Kakashi came up with a question he's been wanting to ask ever since that small argument between Naruto and Sakura.

"Do you still love her?"

"Who?"

"Sakura"

Naruto shrugged and casually drinks his cup while Kakashi waited for his answer. He was aware that Naruto still held feelings for the pink haired medic before he left for the two year long mission and that is a long time. Feelings disappears over time and when you separate from a certain person your feelings tends to disappear and you start getting distant with that person seeing as that you don't see them anymore and rarely keep in contact with them but that doesn't mean they will be gone for good. Even after separating for a long time the feelings they once held for that certain person might return when they see them again. In Naruto's case he wasn't sure anymore since the feelings he held for Sakura were true and strong indeed but when he left they became distant already. He was broken from his thoughts when Naruto gave a small laugh but it wasn't a happy one, it was filled with sadness and sorrow.

"I wouldn't say that I still love her but the feelings are still there." Naruto sighed

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

Naruto shrugged "Beats me"

Kakashi wanted to continue but decided that the topic was too sensitive. Then he saw Naruto stood up "We're leaving. Everyone was probably waiting for us"

With that the two nins left the bar and head straight back to the hotel room. The night was silent as the two walked along the dirt path that leads to their hotel room. While walking Kakashi looked at Naruto from the corner of his eyes and studied him for awhile. So far until now he noticed that Naruto hadn't even smiled once which was pretty shocking for him because Naruto literally smiles wherever he goes. No one could wipe that smile of his face and it was because of that smile he had made lots of wonderful friends. Seeing this quiet and emotionless Naruto was weird for him. He knows being in ANBU you're trained to keep your emotions and feelings away in case it would affect the mission but Naruto wasn't the type that could change to easily. Wherever he goes people smile at him, he always had that bright aura surrounding him that would wash away any depressing mood of the people around him. That's what makes him Naruto, the Naruto everyone learned to love. He wasn't so sure the villagers would be happy to see how much their idol changed. The once bright and happy go lucky Naruto turned to a emotionless man who rarely smiles anymore. He for one is sure that Tsunade along with the rest of rookie 11 would not be pleased with his change of character and attitude. The only good thing he could see from this change was that it made Naruto looked more mature.

Meanwhile the man walking along Kakashi was also lost in his own thoughts. ' _Do you still love her?_ ' Kakashi's words rang deep in his mind. He couldn't help but wonder. So far in his life he had only loved one person and one person only. Thanks to Sakura he had achieved what many took several lifetimes to achieve. He had defeated the demi god Pein, killed several S-rank missing nins, became one of the accomplished and decorated ANBU agent in history, controlled the great Kyuubi and befriended him, mastered his father's legendary technique and upgraded it. Sakura was the one who pushed him to greatness but it was also because of her that he changed. His friendship with Sakura was important to him, something he would do anything to keep it but in the end they became distant. To this day he still felt anger towards his former teammate. He realized that Sakura was using him as a replacement till he brought back Sasuke and then she would leave him without a word. He thought that she treasured their close bond and friendship but he thought wrong. Used like a tool only to be thrown away like trash when they was no use for it anymore. She promised that she would make him feel lonely again, such bullshit. He could remember the days where Sakura would wait for him to return from a mission at his house or hang out with him but those days disappeared when Sasuke returned. Ever since then he would always come back to a dark and cold house. He would wander around and sometimes he would sit on his father's head on the Hokage monument watching the villagers go along their business. Most of the times he would catch both of his former teammates walking through the village hand in hand. However even without Sakura he still had amazing friends to hang out with but he would always miss Sakura and there even sometimes where Sakura and Sasuke would join the but he wouldn't stay for long. No matter what he did he would always think of Sakura so that's why he decided to indulge himself into more top rank missions. It would keep his mind of her and it helps relief stress. On that night when he kissed Sakura in the forehead he promised himself that he would never open his heart to anyone else again. He would never love again. It's better to die a lonely man than feel the aching pain in his heart he concluded. He came back from his thoughts when Kakashi snapped a finger in front of him.

"You okay?" Kakashi asked

"Yea"

The two nins walked into the hotel and to their room and upon reaching the room they noticed that most of the gang already arrived except Sakura. Sasuke and Yasuo were busy sharpening their swords, Naruto guessed that while meditating those two found something in common seeing as both like Katana swords. Sai was busy reading a book with the title "Understanding Human Feelings", Naruto inwardly face palm. It's been two years and that guy still hasn't realized that reading books like won't help a lot at all. He saw his blue haired teammate sitting on the floor with a weapons scroll infront, he saw that she was checking her supplies of arrows left. Then he looked at the bed and saw that Kirito and Asuna were busy polishing Kirito's newly bought swords clean while Hana and Ino were talking about medical herbs. It was long before the door opened revealing Sakura, she apologized for being late then sat on the floor with her knees tugged close to her chest. Without waiting any further Naruto began the meeting but not before saying

"Hana is the room sealed?" Naruto asked

"Hai"

Naruto nodded then looked at everyone "Before we begin let's start with the introductions. Let's start with Team Kakashi

"Kakasahi Hataka, rank Jounin"

"Sasuke Uchiha, rank Chunin"

"Haruno Sakura, field medic. Rank Jounin" Sakura bowed politely

"Sai. Former ANBU root member and now ranked Jounin. Nice you meet you all" Sai gave a fake smile.

"Ino Yamanka. Field medic and rank Jounin"

Naruto nodded. "Naruto Uzumaki. Codename Fox, team leader of ANBU squad 7 and ANBU captain."

"Yuki Hanako. Codename Hana. ANBU captain and field medic." Everyone was surprised with Hana's rank because they thought she was just a normal ANBU medic, not a ANBU captain as well.

"Just call me Shinon. ANBU captain.

"Kazuto Kirigaya is my name but you can call me Kirito. ANBU captain as well"

"Yuuki Asuna. Codename Lightning Flash. ANBU captain"

"Yasuo. ANBU captain."

Team Kakashi were shocked. Never before had the heard that an ANBU team would only consist of ANBU captain ranks only. It was almost unheard off. They may not know much about the ANBU organization but they do know that having more than a captain rank ANBU in a squad is rare because those who have reached the rank of captain would separate from their former team and go into a leadership course which will teach them to lead a team of their own in the future. Kakashi howeve wasn't as shocked as his team because he too had been in a team consisting of more than one ANBU captain but it was for a brief moment. He had never heard of a team made out of ANBU captains because if a team of ANBU captains gets killed in battle it would have dealt a deadly blow to the organization because they lost several experienced ANBU's. Being a captain in the ANBU is hard because of trials you will face. Moreover you will to do a series of solo S rank missions. Kakashi himself was close to achieving captaincy but before he could finish his last few missions he left ANBU to become a team leader for the genins. Curious, Kakashi wanted to ask but Ino beat him to it

"How could an ANBU squad consist of captain ranks only? Shouldn't it have one ANBU captain?"

Naruto nodded "Correct. It is a rule that every ANBU team should only consist of not more than one ANBU captain but it is acceptable for another ANBU captain to join up with another if given the permission from the commander. If a teammate from an ANBU team reaches captain rank then that person is to leave that team. However in our case, since we all achieved captain rank at nearly the same time and how effective we work together as a team the commander and Hokage decided that it would be a waste to separate us. So they decided that we will be made an exception."

Team Kakashi nodded in understanding. Naruto continued "Now let's begin. Two days ago I've received notification from the Hokage that new team members will be added to my team."

This caught Naruto's ANBU team by surprise. They were not expecting that new team members were going added because as far as they were concerned they work together pretty well so far. They were considered to be the best ANBU team ever formed next to the Yondaime's personal ANBU team. They've done missions that were considered to be suicidal, one hundred percent success rate and countless rank S+ missions under their belt. Sure getting new members meant more help but they weren't exactly pleased with it because it might change the dynamics of the team.

"The new team members are..." Naruto took out a namelist from his pouch "Sasuke Uchiha, Haruno Sakura, Kakashi Hatake and Sai. You will be the new members of my team. Ino you will be part of another ANBU squad with your old team as well, I'm sure you know who they are." Ino nodded

"Now personally I don't really know why the Hokage chose some of you since I feel that there are more suited people but orders are orders." Sakura and Sasuke looked down in guilt. They knew what he meant but what could they say? They went behind the back of their teammate who would go through hell for them at one time. Sakura isn't the only one who still feels guilty to this day. Sasuke still berates himself for not considering Naruto's feelings towards the pink haired medic. He knew Naruto had feelings for her yet he still went for it.

"The names I have called will undergo special ANBU training. It teaches various things on how to become an effective ANBU and I must remind you that we are under a time limit so be warned that I will push you over the limit most of the time. It will be a month long training program and some of them won't be within the village walls. I have a few other sensei who teaches ANBU related stuff so be ready to pack up." Naruto then looked at Kakashi "Kakashi I know you've been through ANBU training before so you will be overseeing their training and giving them tip ups whenever you want. However, you will be participating in some of the training as well. Good with that?"

Kakashi shrugged and Naruto saw a smile under his mask "Fine by me but I am not as young as I used to be so go alittle easy on me would ya" Kakashi said scratching the back of his head.

Naruto chuckled "Sure, no problem old man"

Kakashi sighed "I'm old but not old enough to call me that Naruto"

"Okay now let's focus on another topic." He looked at Sakura and Hana "How's the antidote coming along"

"We have found the type of sickness for but the source of it is still unknown. It's actually just a common flu but for some reason the medicine that normally cures it aren't being as effective as it should be. For now I'm still running tests and experiments." Sakura spoke

"So how long do you think you can come up with a cure?"

"I'd say atleast three more days."

Naruto nodded and with that he concluded the meeting. Everyone went to their respective rooms and fell asleep except for one person who sat on the rooftops for most of the night unable to stop. Haunted by his nightmares…

Morning came quickly, much to the displeasure of a certain pink haired medic. Groaning she finally got up and started her daily routine. After a few minutes she came back out refreshed and started to dress herself for the day. Walking out of the hotel she saw Naruto sit on a bench talking to an orange fox and wait…NINE TAILS?! Naruto saw Sakura standing there with eyes as wide as dinner plates "This is Kurama, also known as Kyuubi" Naruto said.

"K-Kyuubi!?"

Naruto sighed "Yes. He won't eat you don't worry"

A vein popped on Kurama's forehead "Why does everyone think I'm going to kill them when they see me. I mean look at me! I'm look like an innocent fox!"

"Almost look like one" Naruto said "A normal and innocent fox doesn't have nine tails with an evil look and menacing look" Naruto smirked when Kurama glared at him

"Tease me again and I won't heal you for a week"

"Go ahead. If I die you're joining me as well"

"Tch. Brat"

"Erm I'm still here y'know?" Sakura said nervously

The two looked at Sakura for a while which got her even nervous then Naruto spoke "Where are you going?"

"To the research lab?" Sakura replied as a matter of fact

"Oh ok. Carry on" Naruto replied then standing up and started to walk the opposite side

"And where are you going?"

"Training somewhere in the woods"

"Can I join?" Sakura asked with hope shimmering in her eyes

"No" Naruto replied coldly

Sakura shoulders slumped and her eyes turned downcast but then she looked back up with a smile " We could train some other time right?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders and walked away. Sakura stood there watching his fading figure with a pained expression. She sighed then walked away towards the hospital. Meanwhile another figure was watched the entire exchange between the two young adults while sitting on a branch reading an orange book. He sighed, he would need to fix this issue between his former students or else they would live on the rest of their lives without happiness just like him. He took out a small piece of paper from his pocket and started to write something down and when he finished it he summoned a messenger dog to hand the paper to the Hokage. He sighed, he hoped that what the Hokage was planning would work and it would not backfire on them because if it did it would be disastrous.

Sakura finally reached the hospital and just like the day before the hospital wards were packed with sick patients, some of them included doctors and nurses. The staffs that were still fit enough to move or work were changing fluid packs every so often but it's tough as they were low on manpower. She would need to ask Naruto or his team to make a few clones to help out in the hospital later. So for now she decided to make a few clones of her own and ordered them to help out. She didn't have the largest amount of chakra but she could afford it though it tires her even quickly. Her day would soon become worse when she learns that her research team all called in sick. She could not do all the research and experiments alone so she force out another few more clones and started her work. She could already feel herself getting tired but she had to push through it. She didn't go through all those harsh training program from the Godaime Hokage for no reason. After for six hours while using clones pushed her to her limit but she had to go on. If there was one thing she hated feeling and that was being weak. What kind of apprentice would she be if she couldn't even hold up a few clones for less than twenty four hours? However, as strong as her will power is, her body just couldn't keep up any longer. Her vision started to get blurry and when she tried to stand up, her legs felt like jelly. She finally collapsed onto the floor, her eyes closing and she silently cursed "Damn…" before finally blacking out.

Back at the hotel everyone was waiting for Sakura for dinner in Naruto's room since the restaurant was closed as they had no staff. Kakashi suggested that they should have dinners together every so often for some 'bonding' since they will be becoming a team soon. Why start later when they could start now? Kakashi and the others were getting worried of Sakura not showing up. Sure she's been known to work late but if there was something that she needed to attend to she rarely shows up late as Tsunade had taught her to be punctual in terms of timing. They decided to wait for a few more minutes and when she still didn't show up they decided to look for her but Naruto told them to stay put while he went out to look for her. Meanwhile Kakashi smiled under his mask, as much as Naruto claims to dislike Sakura now he knew that Naruto still cared for her more than he let on. He's just stubborn to admit that he still cared for her. Walking out from the hotel Naruto has an idea where Sakura might be so without wasting any time he started jumping through the rooftops while hearing some residents cursing at him for making so much noise while they were trying to sleep. They were already having a headache thanks to the flue and having some random ninja jumping on their roof while making a ruckus isn't helping them at all. When he finally reached the hospital he walked in and headed straight to the research lab but while he was on the way there he took notice that the hospital was low on staff. He made a mental note to put some clones in here to help them. Reaching the room, he opened it and saw Sakura lying on the floor unconscious. He quickly kneel down beside her to check for any physical injuries then her heartbeat and when he was sure that she wasn't attacked by anyone he ran a basic scan on her chakra system. It's a skill Hana taught him just in case it might come in handy. After scanning and concluding the cause of her state he sighed "You just had to work yourself to exhaustion…"

Naruto was somewhat used to Sakura working herself till she faints, in fact he brought her home several times before in the past and it looks like he's doing it again. Nostalgic feeling washed over but he quickly pushed it away and focused on the matter at hand. He gently scooped her up in his arms bridal style and jumped out the window headed towards the hotel. He saw Sakura stirred abit then she snuggled her face deeper into his chest clearly showing that she was in deep slumber due to exhaustion and then he felt that she tighten her arms around his waist as if he was a big teddy bear. A small smile graced his face at this intimate position because it was something he always wished in the past but as soon as the smile came it was gone. He would not allow himself to fall for the same thing again. When he finally reached the hotel he went to the reception counter and took Sakura's extra room key without asking anyone seeing as there weren't anyone at the counter. When he finally reached the door of her room, Naruto summoned a clone to help him open the door and when he went in he gently lay Sakura down on the bed. As he was about to untangle Sakura's arms from his body, he felt her arms stiffen around him but he still managed to untangle himself eventually. He took of her boots and placed them beside the bed then covered the blanket over her. He stood up to look at her face when a sense of déjà vu occurred. It was only two years ago that he was standing over her while she was sleeping in the night before he left and he was in at same position as he was two years ago. Then his body moved on his, he bent down, his face inches away from her. He could feel her breath tickling his face, he moved his face up and his lips made contact with her forehead. He stood up again and left the room silently.

Meanwhile back on the bed, a smile graced Sakura's face…

 **A/N notes**

 **You can follow me on Instagram to see what I'm doing with my pathetic life :D**

 **-jjthemalaysianboy**

 **That's my name. If you have any suggestion on my story please feel free to pm me. I won't bite x)**

 **Please review for more motivation to update the next chapter~**


	5. A Promise of a lifetime

**Yes I am back once again with another late update. I need to stop doing slow updates like seriously! I am updating one chapter a month! I am just gonna leave it here for now and I will have another an author's note chapter coming soon. It will tell what I want to say. For now I am going to sleep because as I am finishing this I am suffering from vomitting due to food poisoning and fever. Life suks**

 **Chapter 5: Promise of a lifetime**

Morning came as the wildlife slowly come awake from their deep slumber. The birds chirping away, squirrel munching away at their nuts like humans take their morning breakfast. The once busy streets of the town were now quiet as the town's residents were still sick. Only a handful who were still fit and healthy enough decided to walk out to their balcony to get some fresh air and natural sunlight into their dark rooms. In a room where the sunlight rays shone through the gaps of the curtains on to the face of a young woman who slowly woke up. Closing and opening her eyes a few times as they trying to adjust to the lightings, she sat up expecting to find herself in still in hospital but instead found herself on a soft bed in her hotel room. Her head still felt dizzy as she tried to remember the events of the night before but when she searched through her memories all she could remember was blacking out in the hospital. Then somewhere in her sleep she felt something warm spreading throughout her body and she could remember herself moving closer towards the source of warmth. She must have been carried here by someone but who was it?

Knowing that sitting around and thinking won't do anything she decided to get off the bed and start up her daily routine. She stood up and headed straight to the toilet to get cleaned up and start off the day. After a few minutes she came out refreshed and changed. She then took out headache pills from her bag, a cup of water and downed them all together. Why waste chakra on something so simple? Grabbing her ninja gear and tying her headband, she opened the door and closed it behind her then began heading towards the hospital. Upon reach the hospital she surprised to find not one but dozens of Naruto, Ino and Hana clones walking around the hospital. Immediately she stopped one of Ino's clones and asked "What's going on? What are you guys doing here?"

"Oh don't worry forehead. The hospital is just low on staff and seeing as you worked your butt off for the past few days we decided to give you a break."

"I'm fine you know…" Sakura mumbled

Ino smirked "Yea after fainting in the hospital you look real fine to me" Ino said sarcastically

"Doesn't matter I'm okay now and fit for duty again" she was about to walk pass Ino's clone when another clone stopped her.

"Nah ah. We have orders to stop you from working today."

"Orders from who?!" Sakura asked nearly shouting

"Orders from me."

Sakura recognized that voice and turned around to find one of Naruto's clone standing while holding some blood bags. Probably for a patient. To say Sakura was angry would be an understatement, she was furious! Who was he to order her like that?

"Who do you think you are to order me like that?! I'm a jonin of Konohagakure!"

Naruto unfazed by her angry demeanor replied calmly "I am a captain rank in ANBU and a special Jonin so yes I have the right to order you."

Sakura blinked with surprise

Naruto was about to walk away but Sakura tried to reason with him that how unfair this was. She was a well respected medic nin in the ninja world and the apprentice of the most famous medical nin of the century. Healing and working in the hospital is what she was trained for and not being able to do that is like trying not to breath air.

"B-But!" Sakura was about to say that she has rights but before she could even say it fully, Naruto turned his head to her and gave her a glare that could make hell freeze with just a glance "Are you disobeying your superior Haruno Sakura?"

Suddenly becoming timid she shook her head "No…"

"Good. Asuna and Kirito will be here to accompany you shortly" with that the clone walked away.

Meanwhile, Ino was shocked to see one of the most respected Kunoichi in Konoha becoming that timid was a rare sight to see for sure. Sakura was a strong woman and would not bow down that easily to anyone but what she saw there was as rare as Kakashi arriving on time. But who could blame her? Even if it was a clone, that glare from Naruto was enough to scare most Chunins and make unnerved the toughest Jounins. Also the tonation Naruto used on Sakura was unheard of. Ino was slowly finding it easier to believe that Naruto changed but for the better or worse only time will tell. She turned to her best friend and found that her shoulders were slumped and her head facing down. Ino pitied the girl in front of her but knowing that if she expressed her pity would only offend Sakura so all she could do was put a hand on her shoulder and encourage her "Don't worry Sakura. As harsh as that sounds I could tell that he was trying to take care of you. He may have changed a lot and might be a lot harsher and mean but I know that he still cares for you"

Sakura looked up and gave Ino a weak smile which Ino returned back with a smile of her own then walked off. With nothing left to do Sakura went out and sat at one of the benches outside the hospital to wait for Kirito and Asuna to show up. Just as Sakura was about to doze of she heard the voice of Asuna and Kirito from a distance, she turned to the direction of the voice and waved at them while giving a smile. Asuna and Kirito returned the gesture. Walking up to Sakura, Asuna apologized for being late because she was busy making some sandwiches for a picnic seeing as they were hanging out with Sakura today. Without waiting any further they walked to their destination with Asuna leading the way. When Sakura asked where they were going, Asuna replied that they were going to a beautiful place that she and Kirito found last night while they were going out on a night walk. She said that the place was beautiful and it helps people relax thanks to its calming and peaceful scenary .

It didn't take long to reach the place. To be honest it wasn't that hard to find if you looked for it properly. It was just hidden by some bushes and trees and it goes of the trail of the park so that's why many people don't know of its existence. When Asuna said that the place was beautiful she wasn't joking at all. It was as if a fantasy land was taken out from a story book and placed here. The place was ethereal!

"Sugoi~" Sakura said in awe. Back in Konoha she also have a few places where she could just sit and relax with nature and that was the place where Naruto trained his Rasenshuriken a few years back and the hokage mountain. It really helps with the stress coming from work. She saw the couple sat under a tree nearby and she followed suit by sitting next to them. Strangely she saw Kirito looking at the basket with anticipation as if there were gold bars in it but when Asuna opened it she knew why. The smell and aroma coming out from the basket was enough to make her mouth water. She looked up and saw that Kirito was smiling like a young boy that was given a candy stick. She pushed her head further to get a look at the food in the basket and saw stacks of sandwiches with big chunks of marinated meat stuffed in the middle of it all. There were some cabbage and tomatoes that goes along with the meat to give the sandwich some crunchiness.

"It's looks really delicious…" Sakura said

"Of course!" Kirito smiled at Sakura "Asuna here makes the bests sandwiches in the world"

"Ki-Kirito-kun stop it…you're making me blush…" Asuna said shyly while blushing at the compliment.

"You went for cooking class Asuna-san?"

"Hai. A few years back before I joined Naruto's ANBU team, I found a cooking class in the village an d that was where I started to sharpen my cooking skills. Kirito-kun loves my cooking a lot."

"Especially that rabbit stew of yours"

"Rabbit stew?" Sakura asked raising an eyebrow

"Yep! During our two year mission we were low on food rations so we decided to eat of the wildlife instead and we so happened to come across a rabbit." Kirito said then stared into the sky dreamingly while rubbing his stomache "That stew was awesome…"

Asuna giggled at his antics. Then she thought of an idea "How bout when we return to Konoha we hold a gathering with your friends. All of you can eat my stew!"

Sakura grinned "That's a great idea! I'll call them up when we return"

"Enough the chitchat and lets eat already! I'm starving" said Kirito as he was about to take one of the sandwiches and Asuna slapped his hand away.

"Kirito-kun where are your manners! You should let Sakura here take first" Asuna said pointing the bread knife at him

"Hai, hai…" said Kirito while rubbing his hand

Asuna turned to Sakura "Well what are you waiting for? Dig in!"

The small group ate in peace and at that time Sakura was learning more about Asuna and Kirito. Like how their relationship started out, how was their first date, their childhood, how did they meet at first and so on. Turns out that Asuna is actually a daughter of a noble in the Fire Country while Kirito came from a Samurai family. He also said that Kirito is just his code name he use for missions and his actual name is Kazuto Kirigaya. He mentioned that he came from a family that had a long history with Samurai and when Sakura asked that why he decided to break that tradition he said that Samurai aren't allowed to dual wield while a ninja can. Sakura then asked were they angry with what she did two years ago, she thought they were but Asuna later told Sakura that she and Kirito does not blame her for anything.

"Love can be confusing and complicated. Sometimes we make the stupidest decisions. The only thing we can do is don't repeat the same mistake again." Was what Asuna told her.

The more she talked to Asuna the more she envy her. Asuna was no doubt a beautiful woman. If she was still single Sakura was pretty sure that many guys would be asking her for dates already. She was also a very wise person and a good friend. Sakura knew that if she had any problems, Asuna was the person she could talk to. Her movements were so elegant but in combat she can be extremely deadly. Kirito said that many people look down on her because of her feminine and petite look and they usually give her catcalls when facing her. She truly was an amazing person.

Kirito on the other is abit of a socially awkward person. He said that before he met Asuna he was usually a loner but after meeting her, Asuna taught him to become a better person and he was grateful for her. Sakura then asked that why does he like dual wield a lot and all she got was

"I just want to look like a badass"

Sakura continued to talk to the young married couple for a few more hours before leaving them to their own devices. She wouldn't want to interrupt their private time. Seeing as she has nothing left to do, she decided to check on the rest of her team. She didn't need to walk far to spot her former sensei sitting on a branch reading his iconic orange book. She jumped on the same branch and leaned against the tree trunk, staring at her sensei in silence. Of course Kakashi a ninja of high caliber could sense her, if he couldn't sense her then he might as well be promoted back to chunin. The two were silent for a few minutes till Sakura spoke

"Hes changed a lot…"

"I can see that"

Sakura sighed "To be honest I never expect him to change this much. I always thought he would remain the happy go lucky energetic idiot forever no matter what. Guess I was wrong…"

Kakashi marked the page he was reading then closed it "It doesn't take much to break a man Sakura"

"What do you mean?"

"No matter how strong or tough a man may appear on the outside, his heart is always fragile. It can be shattered and broken into pieces by the simplest of things and Naruto is no exception."

"He loved you for so long Sakura and for a period of time you were with him most of the time. He thought that he finally had a shot of getting you to return his feelings but you didn't."

Sakura looked down "I didn't think that dating Sasuke would cause so much pain to him…"

"It wasn't you dating Sasuke that caused him so much pain." Kakashi spoke "It was you leaving and distancing yourself from him. You were that one person that Naruto opened his heart to. That one person who he trusted with his life and that one person who could take away his depended on in any situation. Everytime he returns from a hard long mission you were there waiting for him to return. When he was feeling lonely, you were there to give him company. When he was going through tough times, you were there to become his pillar for support. When Sasuke returned, you stopped all that and distant yourself from him. How do you think you would feel if you were in his shoes?"

Sakura didn't say anything and stayed silent. Kakashi sighed, he stood up and put a hand on her shoulder "I know you feel guilty and stupid for what you have done but theres no point dwelling and regretting on past actions. The best thing you can do now is look towards the future and make sure that you don't repeat the same mistakes again."

"That's what Asuna said to me"

"I'm sure everyone will say that to you Sakura. Now if you would excuse me, I have a report to write." With that he dissapeared in a swirl of leaves

The rest of the day was uneventful and boring for Haruno Sakura as she spent her time walking around, sleeping and looking at the clouds. She's beginning to understand why Shikamaru does it all the time. She was a hardworking person and spending all this time doing nothing just frustrates her so much! She tried talking to Saitama but that guy was busy with his daily workout which consist of one hundred sit ups, push ups, squats, lunges and so on. She was pretty sure he and Lee would make good friends. However there is one thing that got her curious. Most of the town residence were sick but there were a few like Saitama who aren't affected at all. They look really healthy!

Suddenly an idea came up in her mind. Naruto said that she should take a break today from working but he didn't say that she couldn't do her own investigation and research for the antidote. _ **"SHANNARO! I am a genius!"**_ Inner Sakura said.

Thankfully she kept some spare medical and lab equipments in a scroll and brought it everywhere she went, that way she could do research and medical surgery on the go. The first person she needed to find was Saitama and by luck she happened to see him doing his usual 10km jog passing by her. She quickly jumped in front of him stopping Saitama in his tracks. "Sorry for the sudden appearance Saitama-san but I need to ask you something."

Saitama waved it off "No problem. What do you need?"

"Well I was wondering that why haven't you gotten sick yet when most of the town are?"

"To be honest I'm not very sure but I've always had an immunity to most diseases. This isn't the first time that I didn't get sick while other people are."

"I see…" Sakura said while putting a finger on her chin "Then can I take a sample of your blood?"

"Sure"

Sakura took a syringe and took some of Saitama's blood then put it back into her medical pouch. "Oh and another thing. Where's the main source of food and water for this town?"

"For water, there's a water reservoir just north of the town and for food we getting food shipments from the nearby docks. Sometimes we eat of our farm animals since we have a lot of them."

"Alright thanks." But before Sakura walked away, she turned back and asked "Aren't you worried for the health of your towns people?"

Saitama smiled "Of course I am. What kind of mayor would I be if I wasn't worried? However I put my trust that you ninja's from Konoha can help me. After all, they did send the Godaime Hokage's famous apprentice am I right? So I don't need to worry to much."

Sakura blushed at the compliment. Sure she gets it all the time but she still wasn't used to it. "Thanks…"

"Well if there's nothing more I have to go pay a visit to the residence in the south area. Ja ne" Saitama jogged away.

Sakura then spent the next few hours collecting blood samples from the healthy and some from the sick to compare their blood. She also went to collect some samples from the water reservoir and blood samples from the farm animals. Now shes sitting in her hotel room looking at the results from her work today. It shows that the farm animals were infection free. There weren't any bacteria or virus in their blood stream. However, the results for the water were quite interesting. It shows that there were some kind of microorganism in the water. So without wasting any time, Sakura took out her microscope and when see looked in to it she saw that the viruses and bacteria were covered in a layer of…chakra? She has never seen this before. She has heard that it wasn't entirely impossible to cover a small microorganism with chakra but it hasn't been perfected yet. Though the one she is seeing now hasn't been perfected, it does worry her. It tells that someone or some large group is experimenting on this. It could potentionally become a bio chemical weapon of mass destruction and death. If this were to be perfected and Konaha were to become a target. She feared that not even Tsunade nor her could fight off the infection. She took out an extra scroll then wrote down her findings and send it to Tsunade via slug. It should help Tsunade prepare for what might come in the future.

Now that she found the problem she wasted no time to develop a medicine to fight off the cure. She used blood samples from the healthy and used it to make a vaccine for the sick. It will be tough but she knew she could do it. After a few more hours she was no where half to develop a vaccine. She needed more equipments from the hospital but that darn blonde hair fucker wouldn't let her. _**SHANNARO! Wait until I get my hands on him…**_

"I should have known you wouldn't sit quietly and take a break. Even if its for one day."

 _Speak of the devil…_ Sakura turned around to find Naruto sitting and leaning against her window frame looking emotionlessly at her. "You do know that you are disobeying orders right?"

"And you do know that I should slap you for invading my room right? What if I was changing?"

Naruto shrugged "So what? No like we haven't seen each other naked in the past before"

Sakura blushed remembering three years ago when the both of them shared the same hotel room and went inside the same bathroom by accident in the morning to bath. It was still early at that time and they were still half awake. That is until they saw each other naked. It was Sakura that went in first and Naruto only going in a few minutes later. She was already bathing when Naruto opened the slide door. To say that the both were embarrased would be an understatment. They haven't spoke about that incident ever since.

"Though I'm pretty sure your assets improved am I right?" Naruto said with a smirk. Suddenly he was forced to flash away from an incoming book thrown with chakra enchanced strength. A random cat screaming could be heard from across the road and Sakura fear that she might have killed it. Naruto reappeared inside the room, this time sitting on her bed.

"You became a big pervert you know that?"

Naruto shrugged.

"Back to the matter at hand. What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at the hospital working?"

"Ino forced me to go check on you for a moment. She said that if I didn't she would burn all my Icha Icha Paradise limited edition books and so here I am."

Sakura felt abit sad "So you didn't come here on your own free will…" she whispered

"Of course I didn't" Naruto said bluntly.

"Anyways, I found the problem to the epidemic of this town. It seems that there is a layer of chakra protecting the bacteria and viruses. That's why normal medicines which could normally cure these kinds of illneses weren't as effective as they should be"

Naruto nodded "This isn't the first time I've seen this. A year ago we did a raid on a Sound research lab and found the same thing you found as well. It appears that they are experimenting and trying to perfect this to become a weapon. Did you tell this to Hokage-sama?"

"Yes." Sakura said but hearing Naruto referring Tsunade as Hokage-sama instead of Baa-chan feels weird.

"And let me guess. You want to go back to the hospital so that you can have more toys to finish your vaccnine am I correct?"

Sakura nodded. Naruto sighed "Alright. You can go back to the hospital but don't overwork yourself again or else I would leave you there the next time you faint."

Sakura blinked "Wait so it was you that brought me back…"

Naruto didn't say anything and flashed away but Sakura knew the answer. She suddenly felt happier and being happy means more motivation. Maybe Ino was right. Naruto might not look like he care for her on the outside but he might still care for her on the inside but he just doesn't want to show it. In the past it was Naruto who chased her, to win her heart and to get her to notice him but now the tables have turned. She promised to herself that she would rebuild the broken bond they used to share. It was a promise of a lifetime…


	6. His Caring Side

**Chapter 6: His caring side**

 **Yes I am back! Huzzah! I am really really sorry for the slow update on this story but college life just started and assignments are killing me already. I actually finally found the time to write the chapter when I'm on break. By the way, Happy Eid Mubarak to all Muslims reading this story and around the world. I live in a country with muslims as well so the holiday benefits me as well xP. Anyways I will have another author's note soon but not sure when. Stay tuned for that one.**

 **All characters in this story belong to Masihi Kishimoto, Studio Peirrot, Reki Kawahara and A-1 Pictures.**

Sakura was glad that she could finally work in the hospital again. She was never the type of person to sit back down and do nothing. It would frustrate and irritate her to no end if she wasn't doing anything productive. Also for some reason she felt happier than usual today and it didn't go unnoticed to her childhood best friend Ino who noticed that Sakura who at the moment seemed to be on cloud nine. Something must have happened and she must find out. Walking up to her friend, Ino tapped her friend on the shoulder. Sakura turned around to find Ino looking at her with a look she knew all too well.

"Was it that noticeable?" Asked Sakura with a sigh

"Very." Ino said " You face is glowing like a 1000wat light bulb, you're walking with more spring than usual and to top it off you have been looking at that test tube for the past ten minutes without doing anything. What happened? Details now"

"Nothing happened last night"

"I don't believe you."

Sakura sighed, knowing she wasn't going to get out of this until she tells Ino. "Well…how do I say this"

"What? You finally got Naruto to fuck your brains out last night?"

Sakura blushed a deep crimson red "What?! No!"

"Then? Both of you had a hot make out session last night?"

"Ino!" Sakura scolded

"Alright, alright I'll stop it." Ino said with a smirking "So any progress on finding the cure?"

"Not really but my best guess is that we need to make a medicine of our own but with stronger dosage and abit of chakra in it. It should work since Naruto said that it's just an experiment so it shouldn't be too hard seeing as they didn't really put much effort into making this but we should write down a report and send it to the medical research lab back in Konoha."

"Alright."

Sakura then turned back to her work and cracked a her hands "Alright, time to make some medicine"

When Sakura said that it shouldn't hard to make a medicine to counter the flu, she was wrong. Sakura has been trying various methods and so far she isn't getting the results she wanted. It should have been easy but all her previous attempts would either overdose the consumer or would have zero effect at all. However, even though she has had multiple failures she knew that she was close to solving the problem but right now she was really tired. She looked at the time and it was already close to midnight so she decided to call it a day and come back tomorrow. If she stayed longer she might get an earful from Naruto later. Stretching a few limbs and popping back some joints here and there, Sakura stood up while gathering all her work together to bring back for further study later on in her room. The nurses and doctors started their midnight shift to take care of the patients. They didn't have enough people so some had to work double time but they would get a raise in their salary by the end of the month. Ino left an hour ago so she was the only one left in the room. Her reason for leaving was that she wanted to spend more time to 'bond' with the ex-ANBU Root member. She walked out of the lab towards the stairs leading to the ground floor. Though there were patients in the hospital, it feels almost as if there weren't anyone in the hospital. Sure hospitals are supposed to be quiet but you would normally hear nurses talking softly to each other or a nurse walking around for a checkup but thanks to the sickness around the village, there were a only a handful around. She walked out of the hospital and started her journey to the hotel. Unknown to her, there were a few shadows stalking her like predators in the night. There was a reason why Sakura still haven't sensed their presence yet, they were not your average ninja. No, these guys were the newest breed of ANBU made from the Iwa and Oto Alliance. Having received special training, they were the best the two villages have to offer on the battlefield. They were mastered the art of stealth and their target tonight was the pink haired ninja they were following. They were tasked to capture her alive to be brought back for torture and questioning. She was too big of an asset to Konoha and she was getting in the way of their experiments for biological warfare. If they were lucky, they might have some fun with her before handing her over to the higher command. She was after all a very beautiful woman. As Sakura walked into an alley, the leader gave the signal to attack.

Without hesitation they began their assault and Sakura was completely caught off guard by them. She tried to dodge their hits but she was eventually got hit in the gut by one of them and was sent flying. Sakura managed to maneuver her body and she landed on her legs. She was still trying to wrap her mind around that how did they managed to sneak up on her like that. Suddenly another enemy appeared on her left _**"So fast!"**_ Sakura thought before dodging another punch. This time she counter back with her own punch and hit the attacker in the gut with a chakra enhanced punched. The ninja was sent flying towards one of his teammates knocking him down as well. With some breathing room, Sakura assess her current situation. She counted six enemies and judging from their fighting style and skills she could tell they were around Jounin level. _**"I'm in so much trouble…"**_ Sakura's bet is to either escape and run back to the hotel to call for help or she could try to find one on one fight against them because at the moment fighting six high skilled enemy ninja's was as near impossible even for her. Then she saw the ninjas infront of her unsheathed their ninjato's and it was then she decided that it would be best for her to retreat and call for help. If she took fights she might be too injured to fight the next one and risk being captured or killed. She quickly took out some smoke bombs and threw it in front of her to cover her escape. It won't hold them for long but long enough for her to get a head start. Sakura quickly made her escape and head for the rooftops. The hotel wasn't that far away but it was still a pretty good distance away. Suddenly a kunai flew past her face cutting her right cheek, she turned around and was shocked to see that they have already caught up to her _**"Impossible! They caught up to me so fast"**_

Realizing that there was no escape for her, she turned around and threw a barrage of kunai then the moment she landed on the ground she jumped forward and tried to hit one of the ninjas in the face with a chakra enhanced punch but she was quickly countered and was given a kick to the gut. Sakura flew back and landed hard on the ground then she took a kunai to block and incoming blade. While trying to push back the ninja, she quickly got on her feet, jumped back a few meters and got into a defensive stance. The ninja quickly surround her and started circling her while throwing some jabs here and there. Sakura was getting frustrated, it was clear that they were toying with her "Stop toying with me and fight me like a man!"

"Oh she's a feisty one eh" one of them said

"She's going to be fun to play with when I start roaming my hands across her body" the other nin said while licking his lips.

Sakura shivered and started to get scared because if she were to be defeated, god knows what she will go through under their mercy. She would rather die than being their toy. The ninja jumped and attack her all at once as Sakura prepares to fight to the death _**"This is it…"**_

Suddenly a yellow flash appeared in front of her and all of the ninja were thrown back. As the dust settles, she took a look at the new arrival in front of her and realized that it was Naruto. Once again he came to save her life. She took in his appearance and noticed that he wasn't in his ANBU attire but instead he was in an orange jacket with black pants and sandals. He had his ninjato placed on back.

"Sorry to ruin your fun but…" Naruto looks at them with red slit eyes smirking "Mind if I join in?"

The enemies got up and recomposed themselves, vary of the new arrival. They knew who that man in front was. His name was well known throughout the ranks of the Oto and Iwa ninja core. Sensing the immediate threat Naruto pose to them, they backed off abit with their guard up. Naruto noticed this and grinned, his canine teeth showing "Ah I see my name has spread to the ranks of the ANBU as well neh?"

One of the ninja moved forward and pointed his blade at Naruto "If we can capture Haruno and kill you at the same time, our boss will reward us greatly?"

Naruto smirked then pull out his ninjato "If…"

The enemy ninjas pulled out their swords and enhanced it with their chakra. It gives their sword more strength so it wouldn't break easily. They were facing the Demon Assassin, they weren't taking any chances. Naruto and the enemy ninjas got into fighting stance, waiting for one of them to make the first move. The ninjas knew if they want to defeat their foe they would need to be quick and deadly. This was what they trained for and it was time to put their training to good use. They glanced at each other for a split second then began their assault. One of them stayed back and blew out smokes towards Naruto while the others attacked him all at once. Naruto quickly summoned two clones and together the three of them took out two kunais each and threw it at the incoming enemy. The original Naruto turned to Sakura "Can you break up the ground for me. Make sure it will hard for them to land"

Sakura nod and tighten her gloves then gave a loud battle cry before smashing the ground below just as Naruto's kunai whiffed pass the enemy. At first they thought he missed but then suddenly realized that he purposely missed but they realized it too late at three Naruto teleported behind them with blade in hand. Three of them were killed instantly while the other three managed to defend themselves and now they find themselves free falling towards a ground that filled with jagged edges. It won't kill them but it will be enough to put them into a world of hurt. The enemy tried to land as safe as they could but one of them hit the jagged edge and was seriously wounded in the process. The last two remaining enemies managed to distance themselves to a safer distance, or so they thought. Without warning Naruto suddenly teleported behind them with a clone and gave a hard kick to the ninjas towards Sakura who was waited with two enhanced chakra fist. She added chakra to her leg then rushed forward and punched the two ninjas in the gut causing them to pass out. Seeing as the cost is clear, Sakura breath a sign in relief. That was a really close call and if Naruto had no shown up, god knows what might have happened to her. She walked towards her blonde teammate who was inspecting one of the enemy ninja body. It looks like Naruto is trying to loot the enemy body for valuable equipment or personal item. She was about to berate Naruto for doing something dishonorable when he ripped open the sleeves showing the arm of the enemy. Naruto pointed at a spot and when Sakura took a closer look at it, she noticed that were some kind of tattoo logo.

"What is that?"

"ANBU special ops unit" Naruto replied grimly. He knew that tattoo well. He's seen it countless times from his two year mission.

"ANBU? From where?"

"The Oto and Iwa Alliance"

"That's bad right?"

"Very bad…" Naruto didn't expect the alliance to move so fast. Also it seems that they are training a new breed of ANBU special ops. He would need to report to the Hokage soon.

"But why did they want to kidnap me?"

"It's simple. You were in the way of their experiment and seeing as you are a top medical ninja who has been taught by Tsunade, it made sense to capture you so that if there were any biochemical attack unleashed onto Konoha then we would have one less skilled medical nin to help with. Tsunade may be good but if an attack like that were to happen, she would be pulled away to help with the damage control."

"Alright I get what you're saying."

Naruto stood up and summoned a few clones "Take these bodies back to Konoha for investigation. Bring the live ones to Ibiki for interrogation. Maybe he might get some useful intel from them."

The clones nodded, took the bodies then jumped away. Naruto looked back at Sakura "You okay?"

"Yea…just a few minor cuts and bruises"

Naruto walked towards Sakura with an expressionless face making Sakura wonder what he wanted to say to her. He stopped in front of her then used his thumb to wipe of the blood that's still dripping out from the cut on Sakura cheek. He also used abit of healing chakra on his thumb to heal the cut. It wasn't deep but it was deep enough to make the blood flow like a waterfall. He took one more look at Sakura with his thumb still on her cheek before saying "Be careful next time" then flashed away without saying anything else. During the whole time, Sakura was stunned by his actions. That was the first time that Naruto had ever shown a caring side outwardly. This gave her hope that behind that tough exterior there is still that caring and loving Naruto she knew and love. Sakura looked around and seeing as there wasn't anything else to do here she decided to head back to the hotel and get some good needed rest.

 _ **A few days later…**_

To say that finding the cure was hard would be an understatement. For the past few days Sakura has got nothing but failure and it is driving her insane! She concluded that it wouldn't take much more for her to finally lose her sanity. Ino and Hana were getting frustrated too. Sakura has asked Hana too find every medical herb she could lay eyes on while Ino would turn them into medicinal tonic. Sakura also has a one meter radius that screams at everyone to back the fuck off. Anyone that comes into that one meter radius would become a human bird. Sai can agree to that as he clearly disregarded warning from his teammates and went to annoy Sakura by calling her ugly and flat chested which gave him the honor of becoming the world's first human rocket. It even created a two story hole in the ceiling that Sai created after being punched which led to Saitama almost having a heart attack and seizure. Ino and Kakashi were trying to calm Saitama down and told him that Konoha would pay for the damage. On that day Sakura was so scary that even the cold blooded Uchiha wouldn't go near her. He would rather be called a coward than risk losing his life to his ex. Seriously how did manage to date that woman for a few months?! So the only person that could calm Sakura is another man and that unlucky poor bastard is…

"No. I won't do it." Naruto said with his hands folded on his chest.

"But Naruto you are the only who can calm Sakura down. I mean you've done it in the past right? Surely you can do it again" Ino begged

"Yea I did calm her but only after nearly reaching the light at the end of the tunnel. I suggest you leave her alone. She's a walking a walking demon."

"And that walking demon is causing havoc in the research lab and hospital Naruto. No one can go near her and I can't work with a woman that's gonna explode and throw random enhanced items every few minutes"

"Why not call teme to do it?"

"He straight up walked away. Naruto you need to calm that woman down, Saitama is already becoming real stressed about his hospital being destroyed."

Naruto sighed "Fine. Where is she now?"

"She's in the research lab alone but don't go the front-" she didn't get to finish before Naruto teleported away. She was about to warn him about going through the front door since Sakura nearly killed Kakashi when he entered the front door only to narrowly dodge an enhanced chakra scaple. It was on that day that the veteran seasoned jounin was truly scared.

Fortunately for Naruto who had god like reflexes, courtesy of Kurama's powers was able to dodge the near lightning speed of the flying object thrown at him. This would not be easy and while Naruto was known to calm people down relatively easy in the past but he has changed a lot so as of now he doesn't seem to have any idea on how to calm down this raging woman in front of him. Deciding that standing around wouldn't do anything he decided to try the most common way. Normally this calm people down

"You need to calm down Sakura. Blowing up and throwing things won't solve anything you know."

Unfortunately Sakura was by means a normal person. Having inherited her mentor's temper and strength added to her inner persona she was far from a normal person so Naruto would have to try something extreme to calm her down.

"Calm down?! You're asking me to calm down? How about you try working on this without sleep and rest!" Sakura screamed her temper flaring.

Sakura's temper was famous throughout the ninja world and with her period, he temper only becomes worse. God bless anyone who is unlucky enough to be on the receiving end of that temper and the sadly that unlucky bastard happens to be Naruto. He noticed that Sakura was about to destroy another item nearby so he quickly flashed forward and grabbed her hand, she flashed her raging emerald eyes towards his deep cerulean ones daring him to stop her. Naruto knew that it was a bad idea to try to challenge her but it had to be done. Tsunade would not be happy to hear that there were extra cost that was needed to be paid in this mission and in the worst case scenario she might take it from his own salary to cover up the damages and that is something he doesn't want. He didn't spend two years in hell only to get half of the reward he was supposed to just because of a raging teammate. He quickly thought of an idea. It has worked for him in the past and it proved to be an effective one. If there's one way to let of steam it was training and sparring. During his depressing time he spent hours to vent his frustrations and when he was on missions he usually uses his anger on his enemies which is why he name was so feared throughout the enemy's ninja core. With his hold still on Sakura's wrist he teleported them to an open field, a good distance away from the village so any large scale destructive jutsu wouldn't threaten the safety of the village. He was about to tell Sakura the reason for being here but he had to quickly dodge from an enhanced chakra fist. He jumped back to a safe distance from her.

"Why am I here? I still have work to do you know?!" she screamed

"Not with that current mindset of yours. From what I can see as of now you do not possess the correct mindset to work on any work related to the medical field. You're not even thinking straight"

"I am thinking straight!"

"Really now? Do you know how much damage have you done to the hospital thanks to your temper? If you want to vent your anger then you might as well vent it out during training or a short sparring session with me."

"You're not afraid that I won't injure you badly?" Sakura asked in a menacing tone but Naruto was unfazed

"If you can even hit me let alone lay a finger." Naruto said in a boring tone as if looking down on Sakura's abilities. If there's one thing Sakura hated most was being talked down especially with that kind of tonation and Naruto knows it.

"We'll see about that…here I come!" Sakura screamed before rushing towards Naruto and thus their spar began. Explosions and earthquake could be felt even back at the village. Some of the residents wonder since when did they have a volcano nearby.

 _ **Hours later…**_

The entire sparring ended with Sakura having chakra depletion and thus causing her to pass out. Right now Naruto was sitting with his back against the trunk of the tree with Sakura's head on his shoulder. Sakura was so focused on beating him that she completely forgot about her chakra levels but she did a good job by keeping on his toes most of the time but keeping your enemies moving isn't enough in a battle when you aren't thinking straight and using your chakra like you world's chakra supply inside you. Naruto needed to work on that if Sakura were to be a top ANBU ninja under his leadership. If that battle was against a real enemy, Sakura would have already been taken advantage and captured. If the enemy were from the Oto and Iwa Alliance then she would most like be turned into nothing more than a sex slave. Naruto has seen countless young girls raped in front of his eyes during his mission. Some committed suicide on the spot while some were too traumatized to even say a word. The Oto and Iwa ninja's were ruthless and merciless which is why Naruto and his team rarely show mercy to them as well unless the enemy was a new member and barely committed any crime then they might reconsider their options.

A light snore brought Naruto out from his thoughts, he turned to his pink haired teammate who was sleeping peacefully clearly showing that she has exhausted herself completely. In the past he always of having Sakura in this kind of position but now he wasn't so sure anymore but he wrapped his arms around her waist nonetheless and brought her closer to him. Sakura not knowing who she sleeping against decided to snuggle closer till her face was in the crook of Naruto's neck. He may not have strong feelings for her as he had in past but it doesn't mean that he wouldn't take the opportunity to treasure moments like these. He would be selfish just this one time then he would bring her back home later.


	7. Finally Home

**Chapter 7: Finally Home**

"I can't thank you all enough for your help!" Saitama expressed happily as he was shaking Sakura's hand vigorously.

Sakura sweat dropped "It was no problem Saitama-san, we were just doing our job"

"And a great job you've done! Thanks to your team the residents in my town are finally feeling better and can continue on with their lives again"

"I'm flattered." Sakura smiled

"Now if you guys need any help in the future, I'd be glad to lend a helping hand alright?"

"Ok" they all replied except for Naruto who was leaning against a tree trunk under the shade.

After some last words the team began their journey back to Konoha and for Naruto it was a long homecoming. Sakura looked at Naruto who was in front of the group jumping tree branch by tree branch silently, she thought back the night two days ago where she once again woke up on her bed but this time she knew it was Naruto who brought her back because the last person who she was with was Naruto. The last thing she remembered before falling unconscious was feeling warmth throughout her body. It was a great feeling and she had an idea where that warmth came from but she was too afraid to ask Naruto herself so she would keep the question to herself till the time is right to ask. In fact she hasn't spoken to Naruto ever since that day because after that rest she finally got a breakthrough for the cure and in a day vaccines were already being produced for the residents. A day later most of them were cured of the sickness. The results and report of the outbreak in the town were all recorded as valuable information that is going to be given to the Konoha Research Team which Sakura herself will be taking part as well. She also had a feeling that Ino and Hana will be part of it as well seeing as the three of them were important to solving this outbreak and will be useful to make a stronger antidote and cure in case a future outbreak like this were to happen except stronger. Sakura had no doubt that the Oto and Iwa Research Team would already be brainstorming to make a strong bio weapon. **(Sorry I just put Bio since I don't really know much about Biology and I don't want to lose face by writing random stuff that I don't know about xP).**

Suddenly Naruto stopped and landed on one of the tree branches. He looked around before saying "Alright we will make camp here. There's a stream nearby if you want to take a shower and I spotted some dry wood for fire material. You guys set up the tent while me and Sasuke will go set up the traps for security."

The other nodded while Sasuke and Naruto jumped away to set up their traps. It was just silence between the two former close friends but Naruto spoke first "You know I'm surprised you broke off with Sakura."

"It wasn't me that made the decision. It was her."

Naruto looked at him with a confused face "Really? Wasn't she into to you"

"She was...or that's what I thought"

"What do you mean?"

Sasuke looked at him with an annoyed face "Look if you want to know more why don't you ask Sakura yourself."

"Did something died in your ass or did Orochimaru accidentally left a snake up your ass? No need to get mad" Naruto said plainly

Sasuke's blood boiled "IT WAS BECAUSE OF YOU SHE BROKE OFF FROM ME!"

Naruto remained silent.

"The night I proposed to her she refused because she didn't love me. In fact she never did."

"Stop spilling bullshit Teme. The only person she ever loved was you"

"I wish that was true but wrong. The person she loves is YOU!" Sasuke screamed the last part.

"She loves me?" Naruto whispered out just loud enough for Sasuke to hear. Then he started to walk away then stopped before saying "Hmph, what a fucking joke. She lied to my face, completely ignore me when you returned, didn't even pay me a visit and now you expect me to believe that she loves me? Joke. I'll leave it to you to finish up the last of the traps." He was about to jump away when Sasuke spoke

"Do you resent me?"

Naruto stopped "Resent you for?"

"For going out with Sakura knowing you're feelings"

"No I don't...ultimately it was her choice. All the more reason why your statement about Sakura is nothing but a joke" with that he disappeared

Half an hour later when Sasuke returned to the camp Sakura along with the rest of the Konoha team came to him "Hey where's Naruto? Isn't he supposed to be with you?"

Sasuke gave her a confused look and looked around "You mean he hasn't been back yet?"

"No he hasn't" Ino replied for Sakura.

"Should we go look for him?" Asked Kakashi

"It's alright. Just leave him be" Kirito told them walking to them with Asuna by his side.

"He usually does this. It's his private time. He usually comes back in the next morning."

"Next morning? Where is he going to sleep then" Sakura asked

"Oh don't worry he will handle it himself" Asuna waved it off. "Shinon is hunting for food since someone forgot to get more food rations" Asuna said glaring at Kirito.

"I said I was sorry…" Kirito said softly.

"As punishment for today. No rabbit stew for you Kirito-kun" Asuna said sternly.

"Asunaaaa" Kirito whined

"No means no."

The group watched in amusement as the couple went on about with Kirito trying to negotiate Asuna so he could eat her delicious rabbit stew to the point where he would even offer her a massage for a whike month. The idea of Kirito massaging her for a month was too tempting to pass on but Asuna decided to add that he would also give her a bubble bath when they get back home which he agreed. Giving Asuna a bubble bath means both of them going nude in the bathroom. Not a bad deal. Sakura though was still not convinced about Asuna's statement earlier on but decided to let it go instead. Naruto was an elite ANBU so he would have no problems taking care of himself. If any attackers were to go for Naruto, they should be worrying about taking care of themselves first. Sasuke walked up to Sakura "Hey can I have a word with you?"

Sakura turned to him "Sure"

"Privately"

Sakura looked at him surprised but nodded and followed him to a more secluded area. This is the first time that the both of them talked privately ever since that night when they broke up. Whatever Sasuke has to say it must be important and if he wants to propose to her again then she might shove that ring up his ass but that seems very unlikely. She reached an opening where Sasuke was already waiting. Both were silent at first and this annoyed Sakura. She was about to say something when he beat her to it

"I want to know what happened between you and Naruto during my absence."

Sakura was caught off guard "Why the sudden question"

"Just answer me. Have you ever lied to Naruto about something that would have hurt him greatly before?"

Sakura looked down. This was a topic she would rather not speak about again. She wrapped her arms around herself "Can we not talk about this…"

Sasuke sighed, figuring that opening up old wounds would be a bad idea he decided to let it go for now "Just so you now. I told Naruto about your feelings for him"

Sakura looked up in surprised "Really? What did he say"

"What do you think? He told me to stop joking and said it was a lie" Sasuke ran his hand through his hair "Look I don't know what happened between you two but you need to fix this. Pretty soon it won't only affect the both of you. The people around you will be affected as well and you know how much of an affect Naruto had on people before he became like this. I agree that it was partly my fault to start a relationship with you knowing his feelings"

Sakura raised an eyebrow "Partly? You were the one who initiated the kiss!"

"And you were the one who kissed me back!"

Sakura went silent. She had no reply. She knew she couldn't blame Sasuke. If at that time she loved Naruto she wouldn't have kissed Sasuke back nor would she completely ignore Naruto just to spend time with Sasuke. It was something she still felt guilty. "I'm sorry...I shouldn't have blamed you"

The two fell back into an awkward moment of silence. Sasuke spoke first "So what are you going to do? About Naruto"

"He didn't give up on me and kept on chasing and it is what I'm going to do as well"

Sasuke sighed "You know you will have a painful road up ahead right?"

Sakura looked down for a moment then looked back at Sasuke with determination in her eyes "It's something I'm willing to go through"

Sasuke sighed once again "If you say so...I'm gonna head back first." With that he walked away leaving Sakura on her own.

Sakura looked up to the sky and decided that it was a good weather to have a small training session. She summoned a few clones but each other show different enemies. Some were enemies she faced in the past and some were the more recent ones. She took out her favorite gloves and rushed towards the clones "SHANNARO!"

Two hours later Sakura was lying on the floor feelings spent. It was good to finally vent out some stress on her training and looking around at the craters and fallen trees that littered the place she thought that she might have overdid it. She stood up and dusted herself off, picked up her training gloves then a voice from above spoke.

"Oi"

Sakura looked up and found that it was Naruto who was standing on one of the tree branches "Naruto…"

"It's time for dinner. Let's go" with that he jumped away.

Sakura quickly kept her gloves in her pouch and followed suit. It didn't take long for them to reach the camp and the moment they landed on the floor they were hit with the delicious smell of Asuna's cooking. _I seriously need to ask Asuna to teach me cooking_ Sakura thought to herself while making a mental note. She saw that everyone was already gathered and seeing as the spot left was next to Naruto she sat next to him. She heard chewing next to Naruto so she leaned her body back to get a better view and saw that Kurama was busy chewing a piece of meat. She smelled that the meat had some nice seasoning smell to it.

"I seasoned that raw rabbit meat for Kurama since he doesn't really like to eat cooked meat." Asuna told her.

"I see…"

"Enough waiting let's eat!" Ino exclaimed.

Asuna opened the lid of the pot and the sight and smell was enough to make their mouth water. Sakura looked around and saw that Kirito was desperately trying to keep a waterfall of saliva from coming out of his mouth. She glanced to the side and saw that even Naruto was licking his mouth.

"Alright everyone dig in!"

Everyone took turns to scoop portions of the meat and the gravy onto their plates and bowls. When Sakura took her first bite, she felt like she was in heaven. The seasoning was just right and the meat was cooked just perfect. No wonder Naruto's team liked Asuna's rabbit stew a lot. However she tasted something else, some kind of seasoning but she just couldn't figure out. "Did you put any extra season Asuna?"

Asuna smiled "Yes. This time I added Saffron into the stew."

"Where did you get it? Aren't they hard to find?"

"Kirito-kun got it for me when he was doing a solo mission."

"I remembered that Asuna wished that she could have some Saffron in some of her dishes so during my mission I came upon a few of the blue flowering crocus so I took the opportunity to get her some Saffron. There were quite a few of them actually." Kirito said.

"You're so lucky…" Sakura said.

Kirito just smiled. The rest of the dinner went along nicely with some occasion jokes and funny stories here and there but throughout everything Naruto was silent. In the past he would be the one who initiates the jokes and makes the most noise but seeing a silent Naruto is something she isn't used to. Even Sasuke the emotionless guy was talking more than Naruto and that is really uncommon. She was about to start a conversation with him when Naruto stood up.

"I'm done eating. Thanks for the food Asuna. Good night everyone" with that he walked away into the darkness of the forest while Kurama stayed back still chewing on his meat. Sakura looked on in the direction where he disappeared for a few moments then turned back to the group.

An hour later everyone was already tucked in their tents asleep. Each tent had two people in it. It was a quiet night when sounds of crying and screaming could be heard throughout the camp site. Sakura was the first to awake. It seemed as that no one heard it. When she came out of her tent she saw Naruto's teammates were already coming out and looking into the direction of the noise. She noticed that their faces had expressions of worry.

"What's going on? Who's making that sound?" She whispered softly, trying to not wake the others up.

"That's the sound is from Naruto…" Shinon said.

"Naruto?"

"Seems that his nightmares are getting worse" Kirito said with Asuna by his side nodding as well.

"Hana I thought you said that he was improving" Asuna asked Hana

"That's what I thought. I put a jutsu on him to help him cope with the nightmares and possibly give him better dreams but it seems that I failed"

"Could you try it again?"

Hana shook her head "That was my best shot and if that couldn't work then nothing will."

"But there must be a way…It's painful to hear him suffer like this and we can't even do anything about it." Asuna said with tears gathering in her eyes.

"Naruto has been through a lot of pain in his youth…but I too wish that I could stop his suffering. It seemed as though from young until now he hasn't stop suffering." Kakashi said appearing so suddenly.

"When did you wake up Kakashi-sensei" Sakura asked

"Not long ago when I heard you guys talking"

"So there nothing we could do to help him…" Shinon said sadly.

"There has to be a way!" Sakura said loudly. "I am not going to stand here and ignore as Naruto suffers alone. No…I won't do that again. Not this time. If he's suffering then this time I will be there to help him go through his suffering and fight his inner demons. I won't leave him again." With that Sakura jumped off into the direction of Naruto's voice.

It didn't take long for Sakura to find his sleeping tent. She pulled down the zipper and it revealed Naruto thrashing around in his sleep. She took a closer look and noticed that there were tears streaming down his face. She could only wonder what kind of nightmare he was having.

 **WARNING: MATURE CONTENTS COMING (RAPE).**

 _Naruto's dream_

 _Snow was falling around them. It was below freezing temperature but Naruto didn't feel anything as he heard those words._

" _The truth is Naruto…I love you"_

" _What…what did you just say?"_

" _I said I love you Naruto"_

 _He grabbed her shoulders "Stop joking Sakura."_

 _Sakura slapped his hand away "What makes you think I'm lying?! Do you think this is a joke when I'm spewing out my feelings for you?"_

" _Sakura please…"_

 _Suddenly Sakura started laughing "I guess you saw right through me. Of course I would never love you. I'm just doing this so you won't die to my precious Sasuke-kun but seeing as how things are now, I hope that he kills you. Hahahaha"_

 _Naruto just closed his ears and ran away. Suddenly the scenery around him changed. Everything was burning around him. The smell of rotten flesh hit him hard. He looked around and found that he was back in Konoha. Dead bodies litter the road. Suddenly he heard a familiar voice screaming for help. He ran towards the source of the voice. "Oh god, please not her…"_

 _He turned a corner and his eyes widen in horror as he watched Sakura gets raped by two guys. One was beneath her and the other behind her pounding away at her anus and womanhood. He saw one guy had a blade on Sakura throat and she was screaming in pain. She tried to escape but she was held down by chakra bonds. Tears streamed down her face as she screamed for help. When the two men climax, Sakura's whole body went still as man essence flowed into her. Then as the two pull themselves out of her the man holding the blade slide her throat and she fell down the floor drowning in her own blood. Satisfied with their work, the two men jumped away leaving the dying naked Kunoichi on the floor. Naruto rushed towards her and held her in his arms "Sakura! Sakura! Please stay with me"_

 _She looked at him in his eyes and whispered "You promised you would protect me…" were her last words._

" _Sakura!" Naruto called out while shaking her "Sakura!" he called out to her once more. When there were no more movements. He cried into her chest "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"_

" _I'M SORRY!" He screamed "I'M SO SORRY!"_

" _ **NARUTO!"**_

" _I failed you…"_

" _ **NARUTO!"**_

 _Suddenly the smells of rotting flesh and burning buildings were no more. The body in his arms disappeared as the scenery around him changed. Konoha was no longer burning and he was in Teuchi's Ramen stand._

" _Naruto!"_

 _He turned to find Sakura looking at him with hands crossed against her chest "Sakura-chan…"_

 _Sakura waved her hand in front of him "Hey I'm asking you a question. Do you need help to eat your ramen?"_

 _Naruto looked confused "Huh? Why would I need help…" then he noticed a cast on his arm which happens to be the same arm he used to eat ramen. "Oh…"_

" _Well do you?"_

" _Are you going to feed me?"_

" _What? You want me to dunk your face into the bowl?"_

 _Naruto shook his head "No,no. Please feed me"_

 _Sakura smiled then laughed abit "You're such a baka."_

 _Naruto laughed too "Haha. I guess I am"_

 _End of dream_

Naruto opened his eyes to find Sakura's face facing him down and noticed that his head was lying on her lap. One of her hands was resting against his chest and for some strange reason his head felt oddly comfortable and he realized that Sakura is unconsciously running her hands through his head. He looked back up and noticed a small drool coming out from Sakura's mouth which helps him confirm that she's in deep slumber. Slowly he removed himself from Sakura and then slowly and gently lay Sakura down. He pulled the blankets over her and sat on the floor while running his hands through his hair. He didn't know what happened and how his nightmares could suddenly turn into a good dream but he had a feeling that Sakura played a role in it. He also wondered that why is she in his tent. He got up and did his morning routine then he went in and woke Sakura up. I didn't take long for her to wake up but it was obvious that she wasn't with the world yet.

"Get back to the campsite and tell everyone we leave in an hour"

Sakura nodded and walked out the tent still not walking completely straight and half asleep. An hour later, everyone was already ready to leave. Naruto took the lead and everyone followed him. Halfway through their journey, Sakura caught up to him and put a hand on his shoulder "Hey"

Naruto looked at her "What?"

"You okay?" Sakura asked with concern in her voice

Naruto took her hand off "I'm fine."

"About last night…"

"Don't talk about it. I didn't ask for your help and you invaded my privacy"

"Sorry…I only wanted to help" Sakura said looking down with her shoulders slumped. Kirito was about to tell Naruto to atleast be kind to her since she volunteered and went out of her way to help him but what Naruto said next surprised everyone.

"Thanks …" Naruto said loud enough for everyone to hear. He quickly jumped forward and took the lead again.

Kirito and Asuna looked behind and gave Sakura her thumbs up. Hana came beside Sakura "Just so you know that's the first time I heard him thanked a person." was all she said before she caught up with the rest in front. Sakura smiled because she finally made some progress and it joy her to no end.

An hour later they finally had vision on the gate of Konoha. The quickened their pace and landed in front of the gate for inspection. Naruto's team was excited to be finally home after two long years and she could imagine how home sick they were during their mission. Naruto on the other don't seem too happy at all.

"Aren't you happy to be back Naruto?"

"Why would I be happy to be back to a place that holds so much terrible memories?" he said before walking up to the guard post.

"State your name and rank" the guard asked

" Codename Fox. Team leader of ANBU Squad 7." Naruto replied.

"Do you want me to notify the Hokage of your return?"

"No need."

"Okay you are free to enter"

Naruto walked in and took in the surroundings of the village. _Nothing's changed I see…I'm finally home Father, Mother._

 **Yes I am back with the last update to the story. I hope that none of you will hate that small rape and dark scene I wrote there but I warned you all already that scenes like those will exist which is why the story is M-rated. Now don't worry scenes like those will be extremely rare but I need them to be part of the story. I hope none of you will unfollow me because of that scene x(.**

 **Also Im sorry for the late update but I found the time to write the last few parts of the story. I'm not sure when the next update will be but I hope it will be soon since my semester break is coming up x). HALLELUYAH!**

 **Once again Im sorry for the short rape scene there but heres some spoilers. There will be NarutoxSakura lemons later in the story. Hope that will make up**

 **Till next time!**

 **PLEASE REVIEW!**


	8. Redemption

**Chapter 8: Redemption**

"So I take it that the mission went well" Tsunade said to the group standing before her office.

"Yes Hokage-sama" Kakashi replied. "Saitama-san was very happy"

"I see…" Tsunade said before looking at Naruto. "I want a full report on my desk by today and head over to the ANBU Headquarters. Akashi wants to see you personally. Says that he has something important to tell you."

Naruto nodded. Then Tsunade continued "ANBU Squad 7 will be given a break for a month before returning to active duty however you can still be pulled back to duty if there are any emergencies or missions that requires your team. As for the new members of the team, you are to report to the ANBU Headquarters tomorrow morning to start your training. Naruto will be there to oversee as well. Any questions?"

No one said anything and Tsunade dismissed them. The group walked out and all of them went their separate ways. Asuna and Kirito had to leave quickly because they had to pay a visit to Asuna's parents. Kakashi went to the bookstore to get the latest edition of Icha Icha Fantasy. Naruto asked him to get one for him as well much to Sakura's displeasure, not that it mattered. The rest just went home leaving Sakura, Hana and Naruto. Feeling hungry and since they were back in Konoha, he could really eat some ramen now and there's no place better than Ichiraku's. It was one of the few things that he missed in Konoha. Naruto walked off with Hana following behind, leaving Sakura standing there feeling slightly sad that he didn't even bother to invite her but it wasn't like she was any better. She was about to walk away when Naruto called out to her. "Not coming?"

Sakura smiled and followed the two. When she followed them she expected to have some conversations with Naruto and Hana but what she didn't expect was that she was being left out of their conversations. You know the feeling when you are hanging with your two friends who are dating and you became the third wheel? Yea, it was that feeling. She knew that Hana and Naruto were close since they were teammates on the same missions for two years but she didn't expect them to be very close. Although Naruto still kept that cold demeanor, he still replies and smirks at times. They weren't talking about couple stuff, dates or shopping. Just about missions and ANBU related topics but Sakura still it didn't please Sakura. It was then it hit her " _ **Am I jealous!?"**_

" _ **Yes…yes you are" Inner Sakura said.**_

" _ **Holy shit…"**_

" _ **Well that's a first…" Inner said.**_

She was taken back to reality when she felt a thud on her forehead. Focusing her eyes, it was Naruto who was knocking her abnormally large forehead "Sakura to Earth. Anyone in there?"

Sakura slapped his hand away "Baka! Stop hitting my forehead." She said as a vein appeared on her forehead.

"Well I'm sorry but you spaced out just and happened to step on dog shit which so happens to be Akamaru's."

She looked at the bottom of her boots and saw dog poop smeared all over it. _**"I'm gonna kill that mut. Shannaro!"**_. She looked back in front and saw that Naruto was already inside the food stand ordering his ramen. When she came in she was shocked to see Teuchi and Ayame literally hugging Naruto over the counter. Don't ask how was it even possible but it just happened. She could see Naruto with his mask on the floor struggling to break free from the two restaurant owner's hold. She was about to stop them but Hana beat her to it. However she would quickly regret that decision when she tried to help Naruto and the next thing she knew, Ayame was giving her a death hug. "Nice… to… see you too Ayame-chan… ack!" Hana managed to say out with the last of her breath while giving a painful smile.

"I missed you so much Hana-chan!" Ayame said, tightening her hold on the poor ANBU Agent.

"Missed… you too Ayame-chan…I…can't… "

"You what?"

"She meant to say she can't breathe" Sakura came to Hana's aid.

"Oh Sakura-chan I'm so sorry I didn't see you."

"It's okay Ayame but err…"

"But what?" Ayame asked in confusion

Sakura pointed at Hana who looked like she could pass out at any given moment and was only holding on to consciousness just barely.

Ayame looked at Hana " Oh!" she instantly let go. Hana immediately took in deep breath "Sorry Hana-chan…"

Hana was too breathless to reply so she just gave a thumbs up to let Ayame know that she's forgiven. Then the three girls heard slurping sounds and turned around to see Naruto already slurping on a bowl of an abnormally huge bowl of ramen. She noticed that unlike before where he makes quite a mess while eating ramen, now he's eating slowly and actually taking his time to enjoy the ramen bowl in front of him. Naruto noticing the sudden silence looked to his left and spoke with a mouthful of noodles.

"What?"

Some things never change…

The meal finished with Naruto feeling extremely satisfied. He had waited so long just to taste Ichiraku's ramen again after so long and after finally eating it was the best feeling in the world. Sure during his mission he had ramen cups but nothing could ever beat Ichiraku's. Naruto wondered that if he wasn't a ninja, he would've most likely be a ramen food critic since his knowledge of the soup noodle is beyond what an average person would know. He waved the two store owners goodbye and walked through the streets of Konoha with no destination in particular with the two Kunoichi following in suite. Naruto had his mask back on just in case if any random villagers would recognize him. He knew they were no threat to him as he could defend himself but he wouldn't want to bother the Chunins on guard duty when a riot breaks out calling for the death of the Nine Tailed Jinchuriki. For now, any passing villager simply bowed to him in respect. After a few minutes of strolling around aimlessly, he decided to head home and get some good needed shower and a change of clothes. He waved the two Kunoichi behind and disappeared in a flash. Sakura, sensing that this was the perfect opportunity decided to ask Hana of her relationship with Naruto.

"Hana"

Hana stopped walking and looked at Sakura.

Sakura hesitated for moment knowing that this is a strange question to asked coming from her but she had to know but before she asked they needed to go into a more private place where no wandering ears could hear their conversation. "Can we go to somewhere private?"

Hana looked at her in confusing but just nodded and the two jumped away from the crowded streets and finally reaching a more private area which is on top of the Hokage monument. She looked at Hana and asked. "What is your relationship with Naruto?"

Hana looked at Sakura in confusion "What do mean?"

Damn she wasn't making this any easier for her. Sakura repeated her question "I mean…how do I say this"

"Just say it"

"Are you and Naruto like a… couple?"

Hana simply looked at her without any immediate reply and this made Sakura nervous. There was a few seconds of silence before Hana spoke. "What made you decide to know?"

Sakura looked around nervously trying to avoid direct eye contact with Hana. "I don't know…I just saw that you two were really close to one another so I guess I'm just curious…"

Hana smirked at her "What? Are you jealous?"

Sakura widen her eyes and blushed "Eh? What no! I am definitely not jealous. Nope. Definitely not." She told Hana but she knew that Hana could tell it was a lie. She just hoped that Hana would let it go.

Hana looked unamused but let the topic go to be discussed for another time "Right…" then continued again "To answer your question. We are just teammates and nothing more. The bond we share now is actually similar to the one you used to have with him. Closer than friends but not close enough to be lovers."

"So you and him were never together once?"

"I didn't say we were never a couple once"

Sakura's mind went blank for a moment "What…?"

Hana had a sad and painful expression on her face. "We were together once. We got together during the mission but it wasn't the type of relationship I wished for. He was hurting thanks to you. Sakura you broke him. He needed someone to keep himself from falling deeper into depression and since you were busy with your Uchiha prince, I happened to be the next person closest to him."

Hana went silent for a moment and Sakura could see her clenching her fist. "I loved him…and I still do but his heart was always for someone else but I kept hoping that one day he would know that you would never return his love and move on. So I kept trying. We both took each other's virginity, we both had our first kiss, countless nights of sex. I gave him all the love I could but it was never enough. After a year of being together he called it off. He told me it wasn't fair for me when I was the one giving everything while he wasn't." Tears started to stream down Hana's eyes "Why you…why? You left him and walked out of his life when he needed you most. You didn't know how happy and excited he was to finally tell you that he became an ANBU captain only to be pushed away like an annoyance. You didn't know how he worked himself to near death multiple times because of you. You were the reason why he smiled most of the time. The one who gave him happiness. When you walked out of his life, you took a part of him with you. He lost his happiness and cheerfulness. I would see him drunk almost every night and when he wasn't drinking he would come back half dead from a mission he requested himself just to keep his mind occupied from you. I did my best to give him a shoulder to cry on when it should have been your duty. So the question still stands. Why you" Hana finished glaring at Sakura.

Sakura during the entire time had been silent. She never knew how much Naruto suffered until now. Before this she could only imagine how hurt Naruto was when she started to slowly walk out of his life. After hearing Hana she too asked herself. Why her? Any other man would have just moved on. Just imagining what Naruto went through based on Hana's experience broke her heart. Where was she when Naruto needed her the most? Was this how she repaid all the things he did for her? Can she even consider herself to be human? She wished all the things Hana told her was a lie but it was the truth. If there was one thing that Naruto didn't want the most was for the people he kept precious to him walks out of his life. Sakura was the one person Naruto kept closest to his heart. No other person could rival that.

"You have no idea how bad I wanted to come all the way back just to beat the shit out of you. I hated you so much and I still hate you now. I just wished that you would magically disappear from the face of the earth so you wouldn't cause so much pain to him."

Sakura knew where this was going. Hana was going to stop her from getting closer again to Naruto. She could understand why and she would have done the same if she was in Hana's position but she made a promise to herself. She would right all the wrong she had done to Naruto. "If you want me distant from Naruto again then I'm sorry to burst your bubbles but it's not going to happen. I will be the one to make Naruto happy again and return him to his former self. No one is going to deny me that. Not even you."

"Is that a threat Haruno?" she moved one step towards the medic nin. Trying to intimate her.

She won't back down. Not when it involves Naruto"What if it is?"

"What if you do the same like before? What if you got back with your Uchiha prince and leave Naruto again in the dust."

Sakura looked at Hana with determined eyes. "That won't happen again. I promised to myself that I will not be the main cause of Naruto's suffering again. I will redeem myself this time."

Hana scoffed "You lost that chance when you had it. It's too late for redemption now."

"If there's one thing I know is that it is never too late for anything. With or without your permission I will be by his side till the end this time and that is a promise of a lifetime"

Hana just shook her head. She turned around and started to walk away "Strong words Haruno but they are just words. I'll be keeping an eye on you Pinky and if you for one moment hurt him, I will kill you personally and you can count on that."

"Is that a threat?"

"What if it is?" with that Hana disappeared in a twirl of leaves leaving Sakura alone.

 _Naruto's House_

Naruto opened the door and was surprised to see it cleaned. You would think that being away for two years with no one staying, the house would be dusty with some cobwebs here and there but that isn't the case right now. His house was clean and tidy. There was even some new furniture which he didn't remember buying in the past. Someone must have been keeping his house clean and he had a good guess of who it was.

"I kept your house clean for the past two years when you weren't around"

Speak of the devil…

Naruto turned to the side to see Sakura leaning on the wall beside him smiling. He frowned "I didn't ask for your help"

"I know but I wanted to help."

Naruto sighed and muttered "Troublesome woman" before walking in to put down his bag and equipment.

Seeing as he didn't say anything about not going in, Sakura followed him in and sat on one of the couch she bought. "Tsunade asked for anyone who would volunteer to keep your house clean and seeing as most of the rookie 11 were busy, I took the liberty of cleaning, decorating and renovating your house. Seriously Naruto, there was a whole colony of roaches in the walls. I swear if it wasn't for Shino's help, I would have asked Sasuke to use a fireball jutsu."

Naruto looked around and took notice that the walls were repainted. He continued to explore his renovated home. His toilet had a new shower, his bedroom had a new bed and was now much more cozy thanks to the new paints and furniture. Overall, Sakura did a fine job and he couldn't help but wonder how much it cost her. "How much did it cost altogether?"

"A half year worth of salary. It would have been a year if it wasn't for my position in the hospital. Thanks to that, my pay is higher. If you're worrying about the money then don't worry about it. It's on me."

"Why are you doing this? If you think that this is going to lighten up your training then you're wrong"

Sakura gave a small heartily laugh "Well that is part of the reason"

"Then what's the other reason?" Naruto asked without looking at her. He knew why she was doing this and if it were two years ago he would be jumping for joy but that was two years ago. He was a changed man and the woman in his house is the main reason for it. She was seeking redemption and was trying to rebuild their once close bond. Their bond was something Naruto treasured dearly and he would do anything to keep it intact. However, as hard as he tried to protect it, Sakura broke it. Sure he wished they could have that bond again maybe a year back but now he wasn't sure that if they could become close friends like before again. In fact, he wasn't sure if they could ever be as close as they were once before. The wounds were this raw. He wasn't ready to be close to her and he wasn't sure if he ever will be.

"I want to redeem myself and right all the wrong doings I've done to you."

"Well you certainly got closer to redeeming yourself"

"Really?" Sakura asked with hope in her eyes.

"Of course not."

"You're mean"

"And you weren't? You left me in the dust the moment teme came back"

Sakura had no reply to that.

"That's what I thought." Naruto said while walking to the bathroom. Before he closed the door he turned to Sakura over his shoulder "Here's a tip on how to redeem yourself. Leave me the fuck alone like how you did in the past. That should be good enough" then shut the door.

Sakura's shoulders slumped but she had it coming. It's going to take time and patience to regain Naruto's trust and friendship in her once more. He didn't give up on her in the past so she wasn't going to give up on his this time. How the tables have turned. In the past, he was the one always trying to gain her attention and now she was the one trying to gain his. Karma sure is a bitch but what goes around comes around.

A few minutes later Naruto emerge and to his displeasure, Sakura was lying down on the sofa with her legs hanging over the edge. He shook his head but didn't bother to kick her out. Instead he just went in to get a change of clothes. Sakura on the other hand was having a mental battle whether to sit up and get a look of Naruto half naked but decided against it since it would be kind of creepy and knowing herself, she would be staring at it for god knows how long. Maybe if they were close friends in the past, it would have been normal but that wasn't the case now. She heard the footsteps walking closer to her and saw Naruto walked past her towards the door. He didn't even tell her where he was going and just walked out the door. Seeing as she had nothing to do the entire day, she decided to follow Naruto. When she caught up to him, she got a good look at his current attire. He had an orange long sleeved shirt with his headband tied to his right arm, he was wearing black ANBU pants and finally he had his ninjato on his back. It was casual but it was good to see that he still likes the color Orange. Maybe she should've painted some parts of his house Orange. Then Sakura was suddenly aware of the tense atmosphere around them and when she looked around she could see villagers whispering and glaring at non-other than the man in front of her who was housing the nine tails. She thought that after two years of not seeing him at all, their hatred would disappear but it seems hatred is strong with this village. Suddenly her face collided with Naruto back causing her to stop dead in her tracks. When she step to the side to look at what was stopping him, her eyes widen when a large group of villagers gathered in front of them and by the looks on their faces, it wasn't a welcoming party.

"What do you want?" Naruto spoke out.

"You got guts coming back her demon." One of the villagers spoke.

Naruto sighed "Not this again…"

"Shut it demon."

Suddenly a rock was thrown towards Naruto but he quickly caught it and glared hard to the person who threw it. He slowly crushed the stone until it turned to dust. This show of power induce fear into the villagers but instead of running away, they decided to take matters into their own hands.

"The demon is getting powerful!"

"We should kill it before it kills us all!"

The crowd was about to charge when suddenly they were stopped in their tracks when the earth beneath them cracked. They were so hell bend and tunneled vision on Naruto that they completely ignore the pink haired kunoichi beside him. It there was one thing that the villagers of Konoha feared other than the nine tailed demon, it was the apprentice of the Godaime Hokage. The last thing they wanted to a raging Sakura and unfortunately they did just that and her target was them.

"How dare you try to attack my teammate as if I'm not standing here!"

"But he's a demon Miss Haruno!"

"He is dangerous. You shouldn't go near him!"

"You should help us kill him!"

The other villagers roared in agreement but was silenced when Sakura stomped the ground with one foot.

"Anyone who touches him will have to go through me!" Sakura roared with anger. Naruto during this entire time was silent which gave the villagers another crazy assumption.

"The demon has possessed her!"

Gasp and shock registered through the ranks of the villagers. "If the demon has possessed her then we have to kill her too!"

"Get them!" Soon after the villagers charged with any object like weapon they could find to attack.

"Wait what?!"

The villagers were stopped once again but this time it wasn't because Sakura cracked the floor. This time it was because the Godaime Hokage appeared in front of them with an ANBU team around them.

"I want everyone involved in this incident arrested. Woman or man I want them locked up for attempted murder on two Konoha Ninja." Tsunade ordered

"But they are demons! They should be ones that should be arrested and excecuted." one of the brave villager protested.

"Silence! I will hear no more of this. Arrest them now!"

"Hai!" all the ANBU replied.

In a matter of seconds all the villagers involved was tied up and was brought to the police department by chunins on guard duty. When things were settled, Tsunade ordered Sakura to cover her in the mean time in the hospital while she discuss some important business with Naruto. Sakura reluctantly agreed and left. Naruto followed Tsunade into her office and he wasn't surprised when she took out a bottle of sake from her drawer.

"Kami-sake Naruto. It hasn't even been a full day since you came back and you already made a ruckus."

"Not my problem that the villagers are retarded. Maybe during the attack, Kurama accidentally farted causing them to inhale his gas and therefore making them retarded."

Tsunade sighed. She gave a cup of sake to Naruto which he drank it in one shot. She made a mental note to herself to challenge Naruto into a drinking contest one day. The boy turned man was drinker.

"So how is the situation going with you and Sakura?"

Naruto's eyes narrowed at her "What brought this up?"

"I dunno… she was with you most of the time up till then am I right? So I'm guessing something happened."

Naruto asked for another cup which Tsunade poured for him. He drank finish then waited a few moments before responding.

"She wants a second chance. She wants to redeem herself"

"And?"

"I don't know what to do. Honestly I just want her to leave me alone. She's done enough damage already."

"Why don't you let her prove that she has realized her mistakes. Maybe it would be a good thing."

"I don't think so…"

Tsunade just smirked "Well if you never try you will never know"

END

 **Yes I am back after so long. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Took me a lot of time to write this and I've been busy the past few weeks thanks to life throwing random shit at me. Oh well…at least I finally got this done. Not sure when the next one will be out but I will try my best. Take care and till next time.**

 **REVIEW! IT GIVES ME MORE MOTIVATION TO WRITE**


	9. Do You Still Love Me?

**Chapter 9: Do You Still Love Me?**

 _ **Continued from last chapter**_

Naruto and Tsunade were still drinking but he could see that the Godaime Hokage was starting to get drunk as her face was getting red. Pouring the last few drops of sake, Tsunade suddenly spoke with a serious tone that meant business.

"There's a dinner coming up"

"Dinner? Surely a simple dinner does not require ANBU escort am I right-"

"It's not just any dinner. You see the Fire Daimyo invited all nobles and high ranking officials across the fire country for a dinner he's throwing."

"Don't see why he needs to throw a dinner to be honest. Are they bored or something?"

"Well…" Tsunade took a sip before speaking again "The Daimyo said that this is to help tighten the relations between the nobles, high ranking officers and ninjas. Saying like something that we should be more united. This is also because of the recent conflicts between Otogakure and Iwagakure. With the threat of an invasion, we will need all the allies we can get. We can't have political arguments during war time or any noble giving away valuable information to the enemy for money."

"So in short this is a political dinner to gain thrust and new allies that could potentially help us am I right?"

Tsunade nodded. Naruto sighed, hating the idea of the dinner. If there's one thing that Naruto hates the most it is politics. He is a ninja, not a politician. He hoped that Tsunade won't call his name. He was about to ask but Tsunade beat him to it.

"Yes you are going. You, Sakura and Shikamaru will be going to the dinner with me. Sakura is going because she is a well-renowned figure in the Fire Country. Shikamaru is our village's strategist and you are at the moment the highest ranking ninja in Konoha. Added to the fact that before your ANBU career, you were also a well-known figure just like Sakura. Moreover, the Daimyo requested that you come to at least show your face to the nobles and officials."

Naruto groaned "All these seem so troublesome to me. What about my team?"

"They will remain in the village until your return. The dinner will take place in two weeks and it is held in the Daimyo's mansion. Weapons are allowed but only hidden."

"Right."

Tsunade and Naruto drank the last drops of sake before giving their goodbye. Naruto was about to walk out the door when Tsunade called out to him. "Naruto…I know Sakura has done much wrong and I know this isn't my place to say but as your mother figure and guardian I want both of my kids to be happy. Give her a chance Naruto. The least you can do is forgive her."

Naruto walked out the door but before closing he said "I'll be the decider of that" then shutting the door.

Reaching home, Naruto plopped down on the bed and just stared at the ceiling thinking about his discussion with Tsunade earlier. "Give her a chance…" It wasn't a lie that Naruto Uzumaki still held feelings for the pink haired kunoichi but that was just that. He told himself that he would not be hurt by Sakura anymore. He'd rather go through all the shits that happened to him in the two year mission than feeling his heartbreaking into pieces. Sakura didn't just break his heart. No…She had done what so many enemies and demi gods failed to do and that was breaking his will and resolve. Sakura would never know the power she held over him. The consequences of her actions that would greatly affect him. During those few weeks where he was missing, he wasn't just training to keep his mind busy. He was constantly going on suicide S rank missions with almost to no chance of returning home. It was for the first time in his life that the thought suicide came into his mind. He could take insults, trash talking, beatings with no problems but he could not take being ignored by the one person he cared most in the world. It felt as if that everything he had done for her was wasted. All the sacrifices, the pain he took for her was wasted and thrown away. What's the point of living? When you have tried your hardest only to fail miserably.

It wasn't until Tsunade forbid him to go on missions did he stop his suicidal missions. Not that he could blame her. He was taking so many missions that the ANBU were going on leave none stop. Some ANBU operatives were so desperate for some action that they would take a C rank mission rather than doing nothing because all the A and S rank missions that they were supposed to take were either completed or there was any left for them. However, Naruto's suicidal run got the attention of the ANBU commander Akashi Seijuro. He asked for the Godaime Hokage's permission to enlist Naruto into the ANBU program since he would be a valuable asset for them. Tsunade was hesitant on the request. ANBU ninjas were trained to become killing machines that will show no mercy and emotions towards their enemy. It was the last thing she wanted for Naruto. The ANBU commander also suggested that he should be part of a selected team that would be sent deep into enemy territory for recon and assassination mission. After much debate and argument he was eventually sent into the ANBU and would later prove to be an effective killing machine. He was so effective that he was promoted to Captain in a matter of months and was tasked to handpick his teammates for the mission.

It's funny that how one woman could change the course of a man's life forever. Naruto would never be the same again. Whether he changed for the good or better, he doesn't care. Back to Naruto who was lying down on the bed still staring at the ceiling was soon accompanied by Kurama who poof into existence in a smaller form of himself. He was bigger than Akamaru for sure but he wasn't that big.

"I think you should give her a second chance"

Naruto looked at the fox "Why should I?"

"Because everyone deserves a second chance." The fox plainly replied the answer.

Naruto frowned with displeasure. Everyone has been saying that to him. "I've given her too many chances. What makes this any different?"

Kurama rolled his eyes "Naruto. You and I know that you deserved those beatings for being a dumbass but while there are times you didn't deserve it, you weren't mad at her. It was you natural reflex to forgive her so I wouldn't count that as giving her chances. However, this is the first time that she has actually caused real damage to you and this is actually the first time where you are pissed at her to the point you are treating her like how Sasuke treated her all those years ago."

"I still don't think it's going to benefit me at all. I don't want to get hurt again Kurama…"

"Naruto. She is trying her best to make it up to you."

"I TRIED MY BEST AS WELL KURAMA!"

Both were silent for a moment. Kurama could understand where the young man in front of him was coming from. It wasn't common to see Naruto show this much emotion ever since his ANBU career started. It gives him alittle hope that Naruto is still very much human and isn't some emotionless killing machine. However, instead of rage he would rather see Naruto show emotions of happiness and joy. As much as he hates to admit, he missed that idiotic and energetic side of him. He looked at Naruto who's hair shadowed his eyes. He sighed.

"Naruto" he called out making Naruto look at the fox "Do you remember what you said to me when we finally became friends?"

 _Flashback_

" _Why would you forgive me? I killed your parents, I tried to take over your body multiple times and worst of all I've hurt Sakura when I was taking control of you." The demon fox said._

" _Yes. You tried to take over my body. You've caused harm to the people I care but if there's one thing I'm good at is learn to forgive and I think that everyone deserves a chance at redemption. Even for a demon fox like you…"_

 _End_

"Everyone deserves a chance at redemption…"

"Naruto…it doesn't take a genius to see that Sakura is trying her hardest for redemption. Surely you aren't as cold and cruel as that?"

Naruto remained silent.

"I know you still care for her. I've seen it through your eyes these past few weeks. The way you would look at her, the way you kissed her forehead, the way you care for when she wasn't awake. You've never done this to any other girl including Hana. You didn't look at her the way you look at Sakura."

"Hana is different!" Naruto argued back "She was there for me when I was alone…"

"Face it Naruto. As harsh as it sounds, you were only with her for comfort. Yes, you loved her but it wasn't the same love you've had for Sakura. It wouldn't be fair for Hana if she gives all her love for you but you can't do the same."

Naruto stayed silent. Kurama sighed, if there was one thing that Naruto still has is being extremely stubborn. Knowing that this conversation couldn't continue anymore, Kurama decided to take this leave

"I'll leave you to your own thoughts. I want you to be happy Naruto…I hope you choose wisely."

 _A few hours later…_

When Naruto woke up, he realized that it was already night time. He tried to continue sleeping but with the conversation between him and Kurama still in his mind, he gave up. Seeing as he hadn't had dinner yet, he head for Ichiraku's and decide to order a take out. He had a place in mind where he could eat in silence and in peace. After taking his order, he heads for the Hokage monument and sat on top of his father's head and started to eat. On his position, he could see everything happening in the village. From the busy night market to the training area where team 7 used to train and finally being able to see the busty Godaime Hokage trying to not throw the table out of the window due to paperwork. He smirked at the sight, he knew just how annoying paperwork can be and since he's an ANBU captain they always come in stacks but fortunately for him they always appear once a while. Finishing the ramen, he decided to just lie down and relax. His peace however was interrupted when he sensed another familiar presence.

"Thought I'd find you here"

Naruto made no movement but the kunoichi decided went and sit next to him. After going on so many missions with the man beside her, she could read him as well as his other teammate. They were that close.

"How was your talk with Hokage-sama?"

"It was good. Just catching up with old times and drinking. Nothing much."

"Is that all?"

"Tsunade said that she will need two people to accompany her for a dinner held by the Fire Daimyo."

"And I'm guessing she chose you and her?"

"Yes."

"Anything else special?"

"Why you'd ask?"

"Naruto, I've known you for more than two years and if you are here it means that something is troubling you."

Naruto chuckled "You know me too well Hana…"

"I was your unofficial girlfriend after all Naruto" Hana smirked.

"Yea…you were."

"Judging from your tone, I'm guessing that your current state of mind has something to do with me."

Naruto sighed "Unfortunately you're right" Naruto sat up and turned to Hana. Sapphire eyes staring into brown ones "Why did you pick me Hana…for all I know, you could have just left me alone. Why do you care about me so much?"

Hana smiled then looked up to the sky "I don't know…I just felt like I need to. When I saw you…you were so lonely. No one to look for, no shoulder to cry on. Just so lonely…"

"That still doesn't answer my question."

"Hmm…maybe it was because I didn't want to see you fall. Like every other active ninja in the village, we were all aware of your bright and cheerful character. Always so supportive and strong. You were an idol for many and you helped inspired them. For me to see a great man like you fall just like that is unbearable. So I took the liberty to be the person for you to hold on to."

Naruto gave one of his rare smiles. The last time that he smiled was when Kirito accidentally went into the wrong tent and saw Sinon naked. What happened later on was history.

"You know I never did thank you properly for being there for me when no one else could. I'm grateful."

"You're not getting soft on me are you?"

"Haha…no."

Hana smiled. It wasn't every day that she would see her squad leader, Naruto show this much emotion. Ever since he joined the ANBU and went on the two year- long mission. He started to change and slowly he was almost dead inside with no emotions left in him. She was glad that he was as dead inside as she thought he was. Moreover, she was even happier that she was the one who could do this to him.

"I have another question for you."

"Shoot"

"Do you still love me?"

 _Kirigaya House_

Meanwhile in the Kirigaya house, Yuuki Asuna was busy trying to teach the renown medic ninja how fry an egg without burning eat. Before trying to teach the pinkette ninja, she tested Sakura's cooking first and it's fair to say that her food would have been better being fire fuel or animal food. As Kirito said when he tasted Sakura's first dish which is just a simple Miso Soup

"It taste like the sea." Which is correct and Asuna still couldn't find a reason that how did Sakura's Miso Soup became as salty as the sea. Kirito's being salty about it for an hour after tasting it and he isn't showing signs of stopping.

Asuna spent almost an hour trying to teach Sakura to cook an eatable fry egg and after countless fails, she finally got it. While Asuna admired and respect Sakura for her medical knowledge and also being a genius. She could say confidently that Sakura is arguably the worst cook she's ever met and taught. Even her salty husband wasn't as bad. Sakura however, took no offence when she was told about it. Instead she took it as motivation to improve herself better in the cooking field. As a medical ninja for her team, she needs to not only care for their injuries and health. She needs to be their chef at times. It wasn't that guys couldn't do the cooking and she was a female that it was her responsibility but she felt better if she contributed more for the team. If only she took the initiative to improve her cooking skills in the past then maybe her teammates wouldn't have to suffer, especially Naruto. In the past, he was far too kind hearted to criticize her cooking in any way. While the others would puke instantly, he would ask for seconds and thirds. When asked why he the only one that could handle her cooking, he would reply "It's because I appreciate you and your hard work the most Sakura-chan!"

Now she could imagine if he ate her poor cooking, he wouldn't hesitate to trash talk her skills. The Naruto now wouldn't be as kind as he was in the past and so to prevent herself from getting shit talked on, she had to start doing something about her cooking fast. Which is how she ended up with Asuna. So, far she could finally fry an egg properly. Now she would need to learn how to cook rice. She tried it at first and when the couple tried it. They told her that it felt like they were eating tiny rocks. Her rice was barely cooked. There still some sand and tiny stones which would mean that she did not washed them properly. It was so bad that Kirito and Asuna found dead Weevils among the rice. **(Weevils are rice bugs)** On her second try, she added way to much water causing it to look like porridge. Sakura was deflated and depressed. She can't even fry an egg and cook rice properly. How did Naruto take up with her food in the past few years was beyond her.

 _Two hours later_

Sakura finally managed to make a proper meal but at the same time it's the most basic meal as well. It consist of white rice with some black sesame seeds sprinkled on the top, miso soup with isn't super salty and some scramble eggs with some soy sauce dripped over it. It was simple enough for a beginner like Sakura. Considering her skills before, she has come a long way but if she would want to become a better cook, her journey is only the beginning. While eating Asuna asked how was the hospital.

"It's fine. Shishou didn't really leave much work for me. Only some paper works and patients to handle, nothing stressful so far."

Asuna smiled "That's good to hear. I'd be worried if a nurse or doctor comes back from the hospital worn out and stressed."

"Who wouldn't…"Sakura thought of what did Tsunade wanted to talk to Naruto about "Wonder what the Hokage has to discuss with Tsunade?"

Kirito shrugged "Probably catching up with old times. Discussing about our mission and probably informing him of new ones or better…a big long break!"

Asuna grumbled and glared at him. She then scolded him "Kirito-kun! You know we can't have that with the threats from Oto and Iwa. Pretty sure the longest break we can't get is just two weeks and even then it will become a rarity eventually." Asuna stopped and looked at Sakura with a devious and evil smile "Beside…we have some new recruits we need to show around"

Sakura gulped. _That can't be good…_ she thought. As far as she knows, ANBU training is a training of another level. Not only must you be physically strong, you would need to be tough on the inside as well. It is a requirement that ANBU were trained in various ways to toughen up their mentality. It is to keep up with the slogan 'An ANBU Never Breaks'. Which is true in a lot of ways and the records speaks for it. Any ANBU agents that have been captured would die rather than leak out any information. Few tests have also been run by the Interrogation Department. Ibiki and Anko tried interrogation several ANBU agents and not one of them broke under the pressure. Even two of the best interrogators in Konoha couldn't break an ANBU ninja.

However, the same cannot be said for other hidden villages. Every village's ANBU is different. Some are physically better than the others while some are more skillful but none could compare to Konoha's ANBU mentality. Ever since Naruto became Captain in ANBU. He has been working alongside with the commander, Akashi Seijuro who is known for having altered ego personalities. He can be as friendly and warm to you and in a blink of an eye he can be your worst nightmare. He isn't the ANBU commander for no reason. Working side by side, the two started to increase the training level for ANBU and therefore increasing their skill and quality of Konoha's ANBU. Which is what got Sakura worried so much. God knows how tough ANBU training will be and worst of all, she is placed in the best team so it means that she would have to go all out if she wants to make the cut. While her spot on the team is confirm, she was sure that Naruto and Akashi wouldn't hesitate to cut her out if she doesn't meet their expectations and requirements. To be an ANBU is an honor and a big accomplishment to her ninja career. It would give her new confidence that she is worthy of being a ninja but to be an ANBU in Naruto's team would be a dream come true. No one knows how long have she wanted to be teamed up with Naruto once again after he left. She just wished it was under different circumstances. Speaking of Naruto and ANBU, there is a certain kunoichi on their team that she is still curious about.

"Hey" causing the couple to look at Sakura from their food.

"Have Hana and Naruto ever tried getting back together?"

Asuna pondered for a moment "Don't think so. They were only together for a half a year then broke up. Naruto was the one who called for the decision but even then they still remained close."

"Isn't Hana always the one who goes to Naruto? I don't recall ever once did Naruto look for her and even if he did, it was about business and nothing else."

"Yea….she was always there for him when the going gets tough." She spoke to Sakura "To answer your question. No, they didn't try to get together ever since then. I guess surviving the mission was more important than love to them or at least in Naruto's case."

"I see…"

"Why do you ask?" Kirito asked

"Just making sure…"

"Well if you're planning to make a move on Naruto, you would need to go through Hana first. They might not be a couple but she is extremely protective of Naruto, especially you" Kirito pointed at her.

Asuna slapped his finger down "Kirito-kun! What did I tell you about pointing at people?"

"Gomen…"

Asuna looked at Naruto "To elaborate more on what Kirito said. I'm sure you know by now that Hana despises you or at least hates you am I right?"

Sakura nods

"Well because of the pain you've caused to Naruto. She prefers if you stay away from him in order to protect him from that pain again. If there's one thing she can't bear, it is seeing a broken Naruto."

"I know how it feels…"

Kirito and Asuna said nothing else but continued their meal.

However, on the other side of Konoha. Confessions will be said and barriers will be broken down. Will Hana's answer change the dynamics of the team and what will her answer be?

 _Teaser for next chapter_

 _As the team walks through the dense jungle, vision begins to worsen as the light is unable to penetrate the forest. Soon they found a small trail which Naruto follows without any hesitation. The new members looked around, their muscles tense, hands at their weapons waiting for an enemy to pop up. Suddenly they noticed that all sounds of wild life went silent. Everyone stopped moving. Suddenly Naruto and the rest pulled out their weapons and went into combat stance. The new members followed suite. Waiting for all hell to break lose…waiting for an enemy to pop up._

 _However, they weren't expecting parts of their limbs being cut by some invisible shadow figure moving swiftly around them through the jungle. It was then they heard a sinister voice…_

" _The unseen blade, is the deadliest…"_

 **Author Notes will be posted soon. Hope you enjoy the new update and bye. Got to sleep now Zzzz. Any grammar problems will be fixed as well.**


	10. Author's Note

**Author's Note**

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I did extended it to make it up for my slow updates. Not sure when the next update is but I hope that the teaser would give you some insight on what might happen. Also if you are into MMORPG games like League of Legends then you will know who said that sentence. There will be other special guest and features throughout the story with three of the SAO Characters at first and then now this guy.**

 **Now what I did not expect was that some of my readers developing love for Hana as well. Now I have read your reviews and I can't say for sure who or how Naruto will end up with. Hopefully the next chapter will answer your question abit. Now I will say this in advance. If my story does not end up how you wanted it then I am sorry but like any author, I cannot simply change my story to please other readers. So I will be sticking with my plan all the way with some slight changes on.**

 **Also, also! I will be doing some re-editing on the chapter in a bit while so keep a look out for that. If you have any questions, do feel free to put a review or PM me as I will reply to you.**

 **LAST BUT NOT LEAST PLEASE REVIEW!**

 **YOUR REVIEW IS MY STRENGTH AND MOTIVATION TO WRITE! DATTEBAYO!**


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